Assessment of antibacterial property and acute toxicity of phenolic ex-tract of Punica granatum epicarp

Abstract

The pomegranate (Punica granatum) fruit owing to its beneficial properties for human health is consumed worldwide conventionally. Nevertheless, limited data are available on in vivo antibacterial activity and toxicity of epicarp. Therefore, this research focused on the in vivo study of the acute tox-icity of the phenolic extract of pomegranate bark (Punica granatum) on the one hand, and the evaluation of its antibacterial property on the intestinal flora of another share.In the present study, the LD50 of the calculated meth-anolic extract was included between 500mg/kg, 5000mg / kg and 6000mg / kg). It was observed that the methanolic extract of P. granatum epicarp was of low toxicity. An absence of the pathogenic germs was reported in the ma-jority of the organs of the infected rats, which suggests their elimination by the phenolic extracts of punica granatum, except for the intestine. This work has shown antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus that can contribute to the fight against infectious diseases and perhaps offer the possibility of using pomegranate bark in pharmaceutical and food industries.