ABSTRACT
Introduction The aim of this study was to evaluate the activity of an ethanolic extract of Aloe vera on Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus. Materials and methods A total of 42 heat-cured acrylic resin specimens were made and divided into three groups according to the disinfection method: (1) Corega disinfectant tablets; (2) ethanol extract of Aloe vera; and (3) distilled water (as a control group). Fresh Aloe vera whole leaves were washed with distilled water, chopped into small pieces, air-dried, and ground into powder. The powder was extracted with 95% ethanol. The acrylic specimens were contaminated with C. albicans and S. aureus, and then the specimens were immersed in study solutions for three minutes. The viable colonies were counted using the colony-forming units (CFU) method. Results The results showed a decrease in the number of C. albicans CFU for denture tablets and Aloe vera ethanoic extract groups compared to the negative control group. There were no significant statistical differences between the denture tablet group and the Aloe vera ethanolic extract group (P < 0.05). Aloe vera ethanolic extract groups significantly decreased the number of S. aureus CFU compared to the negative control group and less compared to the denture tablet, where significant statistical differences were found between the tablet group and the Aloe vera ethanolic extract group. Conclusions Within the limitations of this study, it was concluded that Aloe vera extract was effective against C. albicans and S. aureus when acrylic resin specimens were immersed for three minutes.
ABSTRACT
Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a skin disease that pretends with skin lesions, mainly ulcers, on exposed parts of the body. It's caused mainly by parasites belonging to the genus Leishmania, such as L. tropica. Medicinal plants, which have sparked recent researches attention, consider one of the richest sources of active compounds against the Leishmania parasite including Peganum harmala. This study was conducted to investigate the antileishmanial effect of different extracts of Peganum harmala grown in Syria, particularly the methanolic extract of seeds and roots as well as its alkaloid fractions on Leishmania tropica promastigotes growth in vitro. After culturing promastigotes and incubating with extracts for 72 h, the surviving promastigotes were counted. The half maximal (50%) inhibitory concentration (IC50) was determined. The experiments were repeated at least three times. The in vitro experiment has demonstrated a concentration-dependent decrease of parasites number caused by the extracts with an IC50 value of 18.61 ± 0.87 µg/mL and 16.41 ± 0.71 µg/mL for the methanolic extract of seeds and roots respectively. While the IC50 of the alkaloid fractions of seeds and roots were 4.97 ± 0.43 µg/mL and 9.23 ± 0.86 µg/mL respectively. There was a significant difference between all extracts and Glucantime which had IC50 = 32.62 ± 0.66 µg/mL.
