Peculiarities of pharmaceutical feedstock from medicinal plants: antimicrobial and antibiofilm-forming activity of Achillea millefolium L. extracts

Abstract

Introduction. The high rates of development of antibiotic resistance in microorganisms determine the relevance of studying the antimicrobial properties of substances of plant origin in order to find alternative antimicrobial agents. With this respect, studies on the selection of plants with optimal phytochemical composition as a source of high-quality pharmaceutical feedstock look very promising. The aim of the study was to investigate the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, and basic phytochemical characteristics of extracts of Achillea millefolium L. The plants were collected from Velyky Berezny rayon (district), Zakarpatska oblast (Transcarpathia), Ukraine. The obtained feedstock (inflorescences) were dried to a constant weight, followed by the preparation of ethyl and methyl extracts. To study the antimicrobial properties of the extracts, clinical isolates of bacteria isolated from the oral cavity of patients with inflammatory periodontal and mucosal diseases were used. All isolates were found to be biofilm-forming. The antibiofilm-forming ability of the extracts was studied in standard 96-well plates by the spectrophotometric method. The antioxidant activity of medicinal plant extracts was determined by the spectrophotometric (DPPH) method. It appeared that both ethyl and methyl extracts of Achillea millefolium L. showed high antioxidant activity. In addition, moderate antimicrobial activity and high antibiofilm-forming properties of Achillea millefolium L. extracts were established during the experiments. The study of phytochemical composition revealed high contents of tannins in the extracts. The established regularities are indicative of good prospects for further studies of the use of Achillea millefolium L. extracts as part of integrated remedies for inflammatory processes of the oral cavity and oropharynx.