Antibacterial Activities of Fermented Sayuksan Ingredient Extracts for Multidrug-resistant Strains

Abstract

Sayuksan has been widely applied to treat a variety of diseases such as acute hepatitis, gastritis, and colitis. Sayuksan consists of medicinal herbs such as Glycrrhizae uralensis Fischer, Paeonia lactiflora Pallas, Bupleurum falcatum Linne, and Poncirus trifoliata Rafinesqul. Methanol extracts (1 mg/mL) from the four kinds of medicinal herbs did not show antibiotic activities against general test strains and multi-drug resistant strains. The antibacterial activity of fermented medicinal herbs extracts with Lactobacillus spp. strain was confirmed as Gram-positive bacteria which are higher than Gram-negative bacteria. Extracts of Glycrrhizae uralensis Fischer fermented with Lb. casei KCTC 3109 displayed inhibitory diameters of 16 mm against Pseudomonas aeruginosa P01828. Superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity of the medicinal herb extracts was not determined, but the extract of Paeonia lactiflora Pallas fermented with six strains of Lactobacillus spp. had the highest antioxidant activity. SOD-like activity of Paeonia lactiflora Pallas extracts fermented by Lb. brevis KCTC 3498 was 41.4±0.8%, which was the highest antioxidant activity among the fermented extracts with the other medicinal herbs.