Verbena officinalis a herb with promising broad spectrum antimicrobial potential

Abstract

The treatment of infectious diseases has increasingly become a serious problem as the pathogens are rapidly acquiring resistance against the current antibiotics. The herb Verbena officinalis has a great repute as ethnomedicine against infections. Keeping in view its immense medicinal scope, the present study was designed. Antimicrobial potential of its stems, leaves, and roots was evaluated against 24 strains of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Ethanolic extracts of stems, leaves, and roots of V. officinalis and their fractions in various solvents were assessed. The stems proved to be most potent against all the strains. Its activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was higher than the antibiotic Amoxicillin. The leaves also showed considerable activity against P. aeruginosa, Citrobacter freundii, and S. aureus. The roots turned out to be highly effective against Bacillus subtilis, S. aureus, and P. aeruginosa. The study confirmed the efficacy of V. officinalis against infectious diseases. While all the three parts of the plant were active against the test micro-organisms, stems were most powerful. The plant has great potential to provide exploitable leads for new antimicrobial drugs.

Keywords:

• Verbena officinalis
• antibacterial activity
• herbal medicine
• antibiotics
• infections

Public Interest Statement

Microbial infections are one of the main causes of disease and death worldwide. But, their treatment has increasingly become a serious problem due to drug resistance. Hence, the present study was designed, and antimicrobial potential of the stems, leaves, and roots of the medicinal herb Verbena officinalis was evaluated against 24 bacterial strains. Ethanolic extract of each part was fractionated into solvents of increasing polarity, and the extracts and fractions were evaluated. The antimicrobial activities were determined in terms of zones of inhibition and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). All the three parts of the plant were active against the test micro-organisms, stems being most powerful. The plant has great potential to provide exploitable leads for new antimicrobial drugs.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dildar Ahmed

The chief research interests of our group include natural products, herbal medicine and bioactivities. Over the past many years, the research group of Dr. Dildar Ahmed has been active in isolation of natural products from plants, their characterization and determination of their bioactivities. The targeted bioactivities mainly included antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and anti-obesity. Our aim is to explore affordable complementary and alternative treatments for human sufferings. We seek and welcome collaborations from researchers working in the same field.