In-vitro anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis effect of Eugenol

Background/objectives Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis has developed resistance to most of the available antimicrobials. Therefore research on the detection of new antimicrobials against Mycobacterium tuberculosis is needed urgently. Essential oils extracted from plants have been shown to have anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis effect in in-vitro experiments. Essential oil contains many chemicals and any one or more than one chemical may have the anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis effect. Eugenol is one such chemical in the essential oil and the anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis effect of eugenol is investigated. Methods The anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis effect of eugenol was evaluated against H37Rv and twelve clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the BD BACTEC MGIT instrument using different volumes of eugenol. Results H37Rv and all the twelve clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were inhibited by eugenol. The minimal inhibitory concentration of H37Rv was 2.5 μl (2.67 mg) and those of the clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis ranged from to 2.5 μl (2.67 mg) to 10 μl (10.68 mg). Conclusion Eugenol has anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis effect in the in-vitro BD BACTEC MGIT method.