Study on the effectiveness of Ocimum basilicum seed extract against various kinds of bacteria that cause urinary tract infections

Abstract

The present study was conducted to determine the inhibitory activity of Ocimum basilicum extracts on the bacteria causing urinary tract infections. Plant samples were collected from the Nasiriyah region in southern Iraq. It was dried and ground, then extracted from the sample seeds. Ethanol, hexane, and qualitative chemical tests were conducted to determine the active components of the extracts. The efficacy of these extracts was tested at concentrations (100%–75%–50%–25%) on bacteria isolated from urinary tract patients at Al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in Thi Qar. The results showed a significant effectiveness of the ethanol extract and less than that of the hexane extract. The extracts with concentrations (100% and 75%) recorded a higher inhibition rate than (50% and 25%) and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was 25%. The ethanolic extract of O. basilicum seeds was the most effective against the tested gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria strains, whereas the hexane extracts were less effective against all tested pathogenic bacteria. This suppression may result from the chemical composition of extracts containing secondary metabolites.