Quantitative analysis of antimicrobial activity of Foeniculum vulgare. A review

Abstract

Foeniculum vulgare is a perennial herb that belongs to Apiaceae family. Traditionally, it is used as an antiseptic, carminative, digestive, diuretic, and expectorant agent. This is a systematic review on antimicrobial activity of Foeniculum vulgare using the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) technique. Essential oil extract had more antimicrobial effect than the alcoholic extract of the same tested microorganisms. F. vulgare essential oil, alcoholic, hexane, and diethyl ether extracts had strong inhibitory activity against Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, and Staphylococcus aureus. Essential oil extract had low MIC values for Bacillus cereus, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Sarcina lutea, Shigella boydii, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella shiga, Shigella sonnie, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus-β-haemolyticus. The alcoholic extract had low MIC values for Aspergillus flavus, Bacillus cereus, Candida albicans, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, and Staphylococcus aureus. Hexane and diethyl ether extracts had low MIC values for Aspergillus flavus, Bacillus cereus, Candida albicans, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, and Staphylococcus aureus. Microbial inhibition can be specific for the species. The antimicrobial activity strength of methanolic extract is similar to that of ethanolic extract. Acetone extract had lower MIC values than those for aqueous extract for the same tested microorganisms. Acetone, diethyl ether, and alcoholic extracts have stronger antifungal effects than essential oil. The essential oil extracted from F. vulgare leaves was not as effective as the essential oil extracted from its seeds. F. vulgare extracts have high potential to be an effective antibiotic agent.