Evaluation of antibacterial effect of sesame oil, olive oil and their synergism on Staphylococcus aureus in vitro

Nosocomial infections are the main cause of the problems related to health and health care costs. One of the pathogens that causes these infections is Staphylococcus aureus. Its resistance to antibiotics forced researchers to find herbal substitution such as Sesame and Olive. This study was aimed to determine antibacterial effect of sesame oil, olive oil and their synergism on S. aureus.
In this experimental study, at first, olive oil and sesame oil was extracted by cold press assay and the mixture of them was prepared with equal proportion of both oils, and then the standard strain of lyophilized S. aureus ATCC 25923 was prepared from the Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology. To determine minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the oils, micro-broth dilution method was used.
This study indicated the amounts of MIC for sesame oil, olive oil and their synergism; 32 mg/ml, 32 mg/ml, 8 mg/ml and the amounts of MBC; 128 mg/ml, 128 mg/ml, 32 mg/ml, respectively.
The results showed the same antibacterial activity for olive oil and sesame oil. It also showed that mixture of these oils enhances the growth inhibitory and bactericidal properties of the oils compared to using them individually.