antimicrobial effects of folk medicinal plants from the north of iran against mycobacterium tuberculosis

background medicinal plants have been used traditionally in golestan province (north of iran), against mycobacterium tuberculosis or the clinical signs of tuberculosis (tb). objectives this study aimed to define the inhibitory effects of ethanolic extracts of six of these medicinal plants against mycobacterium tuberculosis. materials and methods peganum harmala (seed extract), punica granatum (peel extract), digitalis sp. (leaf extract), fruit extract of citrus lemon, rosa canina and berberis vulgaris were extracted in ethanol and their activity against m. tuberculosis isolates were determined by the agar diffusion method. the zone of inhibition (at 200 to 1.6 mg/ml) was measured and the results were compared with isoniazid and rifampin as standard positive controls. also the concentration of vitamin c of each the extracts was evaluated. results the ethanolic extract of peganum harmala seed and punica granatum peel exhibited potential activity against all m. tuberculosis isolates with mean inhibitory zone of 18.7 and 18.8 mm, at 200 mg/ml concentration. the mean inhibitory zone around isoniazid and rifampinwere 19.2 and 18.8 mm. ethanolic extract of citrus lemon showed moderate inhibitory activity only against sensitive (non mdr; non multi drug resistant) strains of m. tuberculosis, and digitalis sp. showed inhibitory effects on five isolates. ascorbic acid content was 43.3 mg/dl in punica granatum and digitalis sp. and only 9.1 mg/dl in ethanolic extract of peganum harmala. conclusions the highest content of vitamin c was observed in the extract of punica granatum, which was observed to be highly active against mycobacterium tuberculosis, while the p. harmala must have contained other phytochemical constituents that contributed to the anti-tuberculosis effects of this plant. our findings showed that ethanolic extracts of p. granatum and p. harmala had anti-tb effects comparable to isoniazid and rifampin and can be good candidates for novel and safe natural products against tuberculosis.