Background and Aim

Peganum harmala L. seeds (Phs) have anti-rheumatism, anti-parasitic, hypnotic, diaphoretic, anti-cancer. The fruits of Heracleum persicum (fHp) with anti-infection and anti-inflammatory are employed in the food industry. In Iranian culture, a mixture of Phs (Espand) and fHp (Golpar) smoke is widely used in traditional medicine.

This study aimed at performing gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis and evaluating the antimicrobial activity of smoke from burning Phs and fHp on eight standard strains and four strains isolated from patients.

Materials and Methods

Smoke from burning Phs and fHp was collected in a 50% ethanol solution. Ethanol was evaporated at 50ºC, and the remaining composition was dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide. Various concentrations (6.2-100 mg/ml) of composition were prepared. The antimicrobial effect of various concentrations of smoke from burning Phs and fHp was evaluated on 12 different microbial strains using the agar well-diffusion method. GC-MS was performed to identify the compounds of Phs and fHp.

Results

Smokes obtained from Phs and fHp demonstrated antimicrobial activities in more Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The GC-MS analysis of Phs and fHp smokes represented 15 and 11 main peak areas, respectively. In Phs smoke, 44.9% of all components were related to Octadecenoic acid isomers. In addition, Pimpinellin 48.5% was the most identified compound in fHp smoke, and 35% of compounds belonged to benzopyran isomers.

Conclusions

The findings of this study confirmed the antimicrobial activity of Phs and fHp smokes, thus it is logical to use these smokes to disinfect the environment in traditional medicine.