Investigation of chemical and antimicrobial compounds of native Mentha pulegium extract of Meshginshahr and Namin

The chemical constituents of n-hexane extract of Mentha arvensis (wild mint) native to Meshginshahr and Namin region, and the antimicrobial effect of the extract against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853) and Bacillus cereus (ATCC 11778) were studied in this research using broth and agar dilution methods (assessment of minimum inhibitory concentration, MIC, and minimum bactericidal concentration, MBC) and disk diffusion method. The results showed that cis-piperitone epoxide, piperitenone oxide and pulegone were the main components of the extracts. In addition, the MICs and MBCs of the n-hexane extracts of the wild mint in the various regions against P. aeruginosa were similar (20 mg/mL). Moreover, the MIC and MBC of the n-hexane extracts of the wild mint in Meshginshahr against B. cereus were 5 and 10 μg/mL, respectively, whereas the corresponding values against B. cereus were similar (10 mg/mL). Furthermore, the results of the disk diffusion test interpretation revealed that the inhibition zone diameters (IZDs) of the n-hexane extract in the samples obtained from Meshginshahr against both bacterial species were larger than those of the samples taken from Namin.