Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry profiling of the costus plant Saussurea lappa (Decne.) C.B. Clarke root extracts and their anti-bacterial activity

ABSTRACT

The costus Saussurea lappa is a well-known medicinal plant that has been widely used in the traditional medicinesin many Asian countries. Here, we report on the chemistry of the ethanol and water extracts of S. lappa roots usinggas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis. We further tested their antimicrobial activities againstStaphylococcus aureus (Gram +ve) and Salmonella sp. (Gram –ve) isolates. The GC/MS analysis indicate that theethanol extract has more compounds (37) than does the aqueous extract (18) with sesquiterpene lactones as the mostabundant compounds in both extracts. The results reveal that the ethanol extract has significant antimicrobial activityagainst S. aureus isolate with 18–20 mm zone of inhibition, while no effect was observed against Salmonella sp. Incontrast, weak effects were found in the water extract against S. aureus and no effect against Salmonella sp. isolate.Together with the GC/MS analyses, we conclude that the ethanol extract contains active secondary metabolites thatmay have a specific activity likely in a synergy effects with other metabolites against Gram +ve bacteria, but not Gram–ve isolate. Further experiments are needed to clarify the specific effects of S. lappa ethanol extracts against Gram+ve bacteria