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The extracts from 40 different traditional medicinal herbs were used to investigate the antimicrobial activities against Escherichia coli. Among them, the extracts from Paeonia suffruticosa (PS), Siegesbeckia orientalis (SO), Schizandra chinensis (SC), Caesalpinia sappan (CS) and Rhus javanica (RJ) exhibited high antimicrobial activities against E. coli. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the RJ extract against. E. coli were 0.8 mg/ml. After heating treatment of these extracts, the antimicrobial activities against. E. coli were significantly reduced in case of the CS extract. After alkaline or acid treatment of these extracts, the antimicrobial activities against E. coli werw significantly increased in the PS extract but reduced in both SO and RJ extract. Since extracts from RJ and CS exhibited the highest antimicrobial activities, bacterial growth-inhibiting activities against E. coli by these two extracts were further examined. Optical density at 620 nm after 24 hours incubation of E. coli in the presence of 100, 300 or 500 ppm of RJ extract ranged from 0.1 to 0.2 compared to 0.35∼0.65 in the absence of RJ extract, indicating that growth of E. coli was significantly inhibited within 24 hours by the addition of at least 100 ppm of RJ extract. Optical density at 620 nm after 24 hours incubation of E. coli in the presence of 300 or 500 ppm of CS extract ranged from 0.01 to 0.25 compared to 0.5∼0.55 in the absence of CS extract, indicating that growth of E. coli was also significantly inhibited within 24 hours by the addition of at least 300 ppm of CS extract. In conclusion, these findings suggest that extracts from RJ and CS may play important roles for antimicrobial activities against E. coli causing various animal diseases.
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