The Capacity of Tobacco Extract in Inhibiting the Growth of Microorganisms In Vitro / Jasmine Elaine G. Almasa ; Allyson Kim M. Bahala ; Jonel A. Bautista ; Lyra L Calub ; Sofia D. Libunao ; Gaibrielle B. Paican ; Kamille Mangubat ; Angelyn P. San Miguel ; Vanessa Claudine F. Tan ; Ariel Josiah C. Valencia and Kresamie A. Villar.

Includes appendices and bibliographical references.

Abstract: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the consumption of tobacco continues to be a major cause of health complications worldwide. However, nicotine in tobacco leaves, aside from its beneficial effects to nicotinophilic organisms, can also inhibit arrays of microorganisms. This can be used as an inhibitory agent in selective media since selective media frequently uses toxic substances as an inhibitory agent to select a specific bacteria to grow. In light of the studies about the capabilities of nicotine in tobacco extract as an enhancing agent for bacterial growth, the researchers pursued further studies about tobacco extract on its ability as an inhibiting agebt for bacterial growth in a broth medium. This was achieved by obtaining tobacco extract from Nicotiana tabacum L. ( Family Solanaceae) and incorporating it to a nutritive broth medium. After which, the researchers inoculated isolated bacteria provided by the FEU-NRMF microbiology laboratory on the prepared tobacco extract broth. This procedure was done to test the inhibiting capacity of the tobacco extract and to determine whether various factors such as concentration of tobacco extract, bacterial strain and incubation time affect the inhibitory effect. After the exposure of the organisms on the tobacco extract broth in different concentrations, only Staphylococcus aureus is resistant on the tobacco extract broth at even the highest concentration used (250 µg/100 µL) while Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pyogenes and Escherichia coli were inhibited depending on the concentration used. This study concluded that the higher the concentration of the tobacco extracts, the higher the inhibition of bacterial growth regardless of the strain and the incubation time.

Thesis - School of Medical Technology