ABSTRACT:
This study was conducted to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of four extracts of Cyclamen hederifolium tubers plant belonging to the Primulaceae (Myrisinaceae) family collected from the coastal surrounding, Lattakia, Syria. Many efforts have been made to discover new antimicrobial compounds from a variety of sources such as micro-organisms, animals and plants. One such source is folk medicine. Systematic screening of them may result in the discovery of novel effective compounds. These extracts were prepared with increasing polarity solvents: petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol solvents by steeping extraction method. The antimicrobial activity of the extracts was then assessed using the disk diffusion method against gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus), and gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria. The methanolic extracts of Cyclamen Hederifolium tubers have shown greater antimicrobial activities than the other extracts against tested bacteria, followed by ethyl acetate and chloroform extracts. The activity was compared with potent broad spectrum antibiotics such as Imepinem.