Investigation of the Resistance and Sensitivity of Infectious Bacteria to Dendrostellera lessertii and Chemical Composition Analysis

Herbal plants are important sources for finding new and rare products of medicinal value for drug development. The present research aimed to investigate the antibacterial properties of Dendrostellera lessertii against infectious bacteria and analyze its chemical composition.

The different organs comprising root, stem, and leaf of D. lessertii from Lorestan province, Iran, were tested. Antibacterial activity was assessed using the agar well-diffusion assay. The total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) were assessed by the Folin Ciocalteu and aluminum chloride methods, respectively. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were tested by the serial dilution method, and chemical compositions were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS).

The chemical composition analysis showed the dominance of bergamotol (10.62%) and bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (7.49%) in the stem extract. However, phytol (12.64%) and E-11-hexadecenal (12.53%) were major constituents in the root extract. Furthermore, major constituents in the leaf extract were phytol (19.658%) and hexadecanoic acid (7.151%). The methanolic extract of root exhibited the highest TPC as 109.1±2.2 mgGA/g and TFC as 2.1±0.33 mgQ/g. The root methanolic extract demonstrated a MIC of 3.125 mg/mL against Enterococcus faecalis. Accordingly, the highest sensitivity and resistance were observed on E. faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively.

Dendrostellera lessertii extract is suggested as a source for antimicrobial drugs, especially to treat bacterial infections.