Optimization of antimicrobial activity of essential oil from Melaleuca alternifolia for selective treatment of acute urinary tract infection(UTI)

Abstract

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is an illness which the human urinary tract was infected by pathogenic microorganisms that existed in urinary tract. It has been a frequent issue faced by worldwide society and had become the most typical bacterial infection where the microbial spread to different organ in the urinary tract system. The inducement of UTIs was identified through many research and medical testimony and was found out that the infections caused by bacteria can be distributed into gram positive and gram negative. With the inefficiency of antibiotics for more severe cases and concern over emergence of antibiotic resistant microbe, tea tree oil contains bioactive compounds that can be potentially helpful in curing infections. Essential oil extracted from Melaleuca alternifolia plant that originated from Australia is widely used in medical field as it has been discovered with the ability of antifungal and antibacterial properties. Therefore, this study was conducted to optimise the antimicrobial activity of tea tree oil against main UTI causing bacteria. The phytochemical compound in TTO has been studied to fully utilised it properties and tannin, flavonoid, phenol, terpenoid were found to be present in tea tree oil. The qualitative analysis in this study is the antioxidant activity of tea tree oil. The antioxidant activity of tea tree oil found is 89.16%. Optimisation of antimicrobial activity of TTO against UTI causing bacteria has been carried out with the help of DOE, ANOVA and CCD software with the constraints of selected parameter. The optimum condition in obtaining largest area of inhibition zone of 2.3 cm was 39°C of incubation temperature, 8 hours of incubation period and with pH 8 of culture media. This research finding present a potential of tea tree oil in curing urinary tract infection by inhibiting the activity of bacteria in the urinary tract.