Antibacterial Activity and Chemical Constituents of Anvillea garcini methanolic extract against Streptococcus pyogenes and Bacillus anthracis

Background and Objectives: Anvillea garcini grows wildly in the southern region of Iran. The purpose of this study was to investigate chemical constituents of the methanolic extract from leaves and flowers of A. garcini and their evaluation of antibacterial activity against Streptococcus pyogenes, and Bacillus anthracis. Materials and Methods: Leaves and flowers of the plant were collected from Bandar-Abbas and methanolic extract of the plant leaves and flowers was prepared by maceration method and the chemical constituents were investigated by GC/MS method. Antibacterial activity was evaluated by disk diffusion and agar dilution methods to determine MIC. Results: The major chemical constituents of the leaf extract were α-pinene (14.8%), sabinene (9.6%) and the flower extract was bornyl acetate (37%) and camphene (8.7%). Results from the antibacterial tests demonstrated that the A. garcini leaf and flower extract had an excellent inhibitory effect against the Bacillus anthracis. The MIC of the leaf and flower extracts against the Streptococcus pyogenes and Bacillus anthracis were 0.0 and 5.0 μg/ml, respectively. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that methanolic extract of A. garcini leaf and flower and its constituents have an excellent antibacterial activity against Bacillus anthracis and are beneficial to human health. They have the potential to be used for medical purposes and to be utilized as antibacterial additives in making paper products. However, we need further investigations both in vitro and in vivo.