Antimicrobial screening of the ethanolic leaves extract of Ficus carica L. (Moraceae) – an ancient fruit plant

In the present study, ethanolic extracts of Ficus carica L. leaves were tested for their antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 700603), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), and Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae (ATCC 49619) as well as fungus Candida albicans. The leaves of F. carica were collected in M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden (Kyiv, Ukraine). Antimicrobial activity was determined using the agar diffusion method. Crude extracts of Ficus carica leaves have shown a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activities. The ethanolic extract of F. carica leaves exhibited mild antimicrobial activity against the Gram-positive bacteria (10.4 mm of inhibition zone diameter for methicillin-re sistant Staphylococcus aureus and 14.28 mm for Staphylococcus aureus), and the Gram-negative bacteria (13.25 mm for Escherichia coli). Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus pneumoniae appeared to be less sensitive to the extract, the inhibition zones were 9.75 mm, 8.69 mm and 8.56 mm, respectively. The antimicrobial activity of leaves extract is possibly could be explained by the presence of flavonoids, steroid, saponins and/or tannins. These plants have great medicinal potential for the therapy of infection. Further investigation is necessary to identify those bioactive compounds, which will be a platform for clinical applications. These findings are important in order to evaluate the significance of collections of tropical plants maintained under glass house conditions at botanical gardens of Ukraine and to plan the conservation strategy by establishment of national collections of plants with valuable characteristics with the prospects of their use as sources of antimicrobial agents.