A controlled in vitro study of the effectiveness of Alepidea amatymbica herbal tincture and homoeopathic dilutions (01 and 06) against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of Alepidea amatymbica tincture and homoeopathic dilutions to the 1st and 6th decimal potency as compared to ethanol (negative control) in the in vitro inhibition of Escherichea coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus in terms of the disc diffusion test. Vancomycin and gentamicin were included in the study as positive controls in order to account for plate-ta-plate variations in the sensitivity of the bacterial strains to antimicrobial substances. Antimicrobial activity was expressed as the ratio of the inhibition zone (mm) produced by the test substance and the inhibition zone (mm) produced by the two combined antibiotic discs. For this study 20 Mueller-Hinton agar plates were assigned to each bacterial species and were inoculated with their respective bacteria. Four dry filter paper discs and two antibiotic discs were placed equidistantly on each agar plate. The filter paper discs had been previously impregnated with one of the test substances or the negative control using a triple impregnation technique utilizing a micro-pipette. The plates were then incubated at 37\xB0 C. The diameters of the zones of inhibition were measured at 18 hours, 24 hours and 48 hours. Data was analysed by means of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Statistical methods utilized were Friedmans' test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskall - Wallis Non-Parametric Analysis of Variance by Rank test.