Do Natural Compounds Exhibit Synergistic Antibacterial Activity Against Escherichia coli for Wound Care?

Overview

As antibiotic resistance is increasing, scientists are studying natural compounds as possible alternatives for treating bacterial infections, especially in wound care. The purpose of this experiment was to test whether curcumin, piperine, and activated charcoal could reduce the growth of Escherichia coli when used individually or in combination. The hypothesis stated that if E. coli cultures were treated with a combination of curcumin, piperine, and activated charcoal, then the mean zone of inhibition would be at least 20% greater than that produced by any individual compound alone. The experiment was conducted using a standard disc diffusion method, in which 6 mm paper discs containing each treatment were placed on E. coli agar plates and incubated at 37°C for 18 to 24 hours. Antibacterial effects were measured by recording the diameter of the zone of inhibition in millimeters. Individual treatments produced mean zones of inhibition ranging from approximately 7.1 to 7.5 mm. The combination of curcumin, piperine, and activated charcoal produced the largest observed zone of inhibition among the natural treatments, at approximately 8.6 mm, while DMSO solvent controls showed no meaningful inhibition and antibiotic controls produced zones greater than 30 mm. In this experiment, the results suggested that combining the compounds tended to produce slightly larger zones of inhibition than using them individually. Future studies could test different concentrations of each compound, different combination ratios, additional bacterial species, and use a greater number of trials.

Competition history

• CSEF 2026 Microbiology (Junior Division) · Entry J-16-11

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