Antibacterial effects of Lavandula Stoechas Essential Oil, on Gram Positive and Negative Bacteria In Vitro

Background and Objectives: Concurrent with the development of newchemical drugs and antibiotics, their harmful effects are graduallyemerged. Due to lack of harmful effects, herbal medicines have beenused in the pharmaceutical industry. The aim of this study was the use oflavender essential oil as an herbal medicine for the replacement ofantibiotics and chemicals.Material and Methods: In this study, the plant essential oil was isolatedby drying and distillation method using Clevenger apparatus. Theantibacterial effect of this plant was evaluated by using disc diffusionmethod and successive dilutions. In order to control the standard of themethod, antibiotic discs and standard bacterial strains were used.Results: Based on the results, Proteus mirabilis and Enterococcus faecalisare , respectively , the most sensitive and most resistant bacteria todilutions of 1, 1/2 and 1/4. Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis,respectively, are the most sensitive and most resistant bacteria to thedilution of 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 and 1/64. MIC and MBC methods also showthat all bacteria have the same minimum inhibitory and fatalityconcentrations except Enterococcus faecalis with minimum inhibitoryconcentration of 16/1 and minimum concentration fatality of 8/1.Evaluating the results of the disk diffusion method with antibiotic discs,we can observe the better effect of this plant in comparison withgentamicin and streptomycin discs on the growth of five strains ofStaphylococcus aureus ATCC1885, Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC2405, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC2321, Escherichia coli ATCC 1652and Proteus mirabilis ATCC 2601.Conclusion: the essential oil of Lavender can be used instead ofchemical drugs to treat bacterial infections.Keywords: Lavandula, Anti-bacterial effects, Essential oils, Bacterium