Determinación in Vitro de la Actividad Antimicrobiana de los Extractos de Cymbopogon Citratus Frente a Escherichia Coli y Staphylococcus Aureus

Objective: The study of plants has generated a discovery of bioactive compounds with therapeutic potential inherited from ancestral knowledge, this research aimed to determine the antimicrobial activity of Cymbopogon citratus extracts against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25623 and Escherichia coli ATCC 8739.Methods: Extraction was performed with solvents of different polarity (ethanolic, methanolic and hydroalcoholic) by percolation, by phytochemical screening, the presence of secondary metabolites was identified and antimicrobial activity was evaluated with the disc diffusion method (Kirby-Bauer) against Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25623 bacteria, determinating the inhibition percentage. Finally, the bioautography technique was carried out, identifying the supposed secondary metabolites responsible for the inhibition, being a pure experimental design with cross-section. Results: C. citratus extracts (ethanolic, methanolic and hydroalcoholic) showed the presence of tannins and phenols, alkaloids in ethanolic and hydroalcoholic extracts, and flavonoids only in hydroalcoholic extract. Antimicrobial susceptibility assays revealed that only discs containing ethanolic and methanolic extracts generated inhibition in the presence of S. aureus ATCC 25923, the ethanolic extract showed higher inhibitory activity compared to methanolic with 66%, 55.4% inhibition percentage respectively. However, none of the extracts acted against E. coli ATCC 8739. Bioautography allowed to determine the possible secondary metabolites responsible for inhibition such as geraniol (RF of 0.225), borneol (RF of 0.25) or safrole (RF of 0.8875).Main conclusions: C. citratus ethanolic extract showed a high inhibition, the compounds that have antimicrobial activity, against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25623, are: Geraniol (7-dimethyl-2,6-heptadien-1-ol), Borneol (endo-1,7,7-trimetil-biciclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-ol) and Safrol (5-(2-propenyl)-1,3-benzodioxole).