The Antimicrobial Effect of Methanol Extracts of Eucalyptus, Satureia Hortensis and Heracleum Glabrescens on Giardia Cysts

Background and objectives: Giardiasis is a parasitic infection of smallintestine, with a worldwide distribution and the prevalence of Giardia indifferent parts of the world varies between 1 to 25%. Plants have the vastrange of antimicrobial and antifungal activity that can be identified asalternative treatments for bacterial and parasitic pathogens, the same asGiardia. In this study, the methanol extracts of eucalyptus plants, Satureiahortensis and Heracleum glabrescens, on Giardia cysts were studied in vitro.Material and Methods: The cysts were isolated from the feces using amodified Bingham. After counting by Hemusytumetr, they were placed nearby 200 mg / ml, 100 mg / ml and 10 mg / ml of the extracts prepared byDMSO for 30 and 60 minutes. Then, the number of dead and live cysts wascounted under a microscope.Results: the fatality effect of the extracts in 60 minutes is higher than thoseof 30 minutes. The methanol extracts of Satureia hortensis, Eucalyptus andHeracleum glabrescens with the dilution of 200 mg/ml in 60 mins have thefatality effect of 84/3%, 63/3% and 44%, respectively. The highestfatality(84.3%) on Giardia cysts is related to Satureia hortensis with thedilution of 200 mg/ml in 60 mins and the Lowest(27%) is related toHeracleum glabrescens with the dilution of 10 mg/ml in 30-minute period.The significant relationship between the plant type and the fatality ofmethanol extracts is observed.Conclusion: the methanol extracts of Eucalyptus, Heracleum glabrescensand especially Satureia hortensis have anti-parasitic effects in the laboratoryconditions. Thus, they can be used in the future, instead of the chemicalantiparasitic drugs.Key words: Antibacterial Giardia lamblia cysts, Eucalyptus, Satureiahortensis, Heracleum glabrescens, Tonekabon