The Ethnopharmacological Study on Antibacterial Activity of some Selected Plants Used in Iranian Traditional Medicine

Background: iran is a land of great heritage of ancient medical scholars. herbal medicines, asa basement of treatment of diseases have been clearly described in the medical texts of thesescholars including rhazes, avicenna, and others. numerous plants are introduced in these textsto treat those diseases likely to be infective ones. few attempts have been made to evaluateethnopharmacological aspects of these plants.objective: in the present study selected specimens of plants described in ancient iranianmedical texts to treat infective conditions were evaluated for antibacterial activity. the hypothesisof this study was that the plants described in the ancient medical texts possess antibacterialproperties.methods: in this study, ten specimens of these plants were selected from various texts. theirscientific terminologies were prepared based on various respected sources. the antibacterialactivity of hydroalcoholic extracts of these herbs, as well as their mics and mbcs were evaluatedaccording to standard techniques.results: results of this study showed that almost all of 10 specimens showed considerableantibacterial activity. the mic and mbc of some herbs showed strong activity against grampositive and gram negative microorganisms. mics and mbcs of heracleum persicum andantibacterial activity of zea mays are reported for the first time in this study.conclusion: the antibacterial activity of the selected plants supports their old uses as antiinfectiveagents. the results of this survey also showed antibacterial activity of arnebia euchroma(royle) johst. and teucrium polium l. traditionally used as poultice for infective wounds. h.persicum traditionally used in iran as spice can play a valuable role in preventing food poisoning.the data of this study supported the importance of ethnopharmacological approach and openedalso the new doors to future researches in this field.