Evaluation of antimicrobial activity of the bark of Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth (Sabiá)

Abstract

Plants are important sources of substances that inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungi. The search for new antimicrobial agents is necessary due to the emergence of resistant microorganisms and fatal opportunistic infections. The antimicrobial activity of a caatinga biome typical species, Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth was studied against three groups of pathogenic bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Mycobacterium smegmatis and yeast Candida albicans. The plant extracts, especially the extraction with ethyl acetate, showed the ability to control the growth of one or more species of microorganisms, with inhibition values range from 11 to 23mm. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) was 128 μg/mL to M. caesalpinifolia ethyl acetate extract, this concentration is considered as a stronger inhibition to a plant extract. Furthermore, the ethyl extract showed synergistic effect with Polimixina against P. aureginosa. The plant extracts us showed good potential for application with antimicrobial.