Abstract

Medicinal plants are recommended for prevention, control and treatment of different diseases. Due to the rapid growth of global interest in the use of medicinal plants, their effects and safety assessment have become highly important. In this study, Coriandrum sativum was extracted to investigate its chemical composition and antibacterial effect against Escherichia coil O157:H7, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella typhimurium, Proteus mirabilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Streptococcus pneumonia, Bacillus subtilis and Enterococcus faecalis. Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) was done to determine the chemical composition of C. sativum essential oil. Agar disk and agar well diffusion methods were used to investigate the antibacterial activity of the essential oil. Macrobroth tube test was run to specify Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC). The results indicated that linalool (66.8 ) was the most frequently found constituents in C. sativum. The bacterial data revealed that inhibition zone in all bacteria increased when the concentration of C. sativum was increased (p <= 0.01). Also, C. sativum with 2-8 mg/mL concentrations prevented the growth of ten selected bacteria, and with 2-16 mg/mL concentrations removed them. The results showed the antibacterial property of C. sativum. It appears that this plant can be used as an antibiotic to treat some bacterial infections. Fractionation of active molecules is suggested to be perused in the future studies.