In vitro antibacterial activity against pathogenic bacteria: a review

Currently there is a growing interest in researching and developing new antibacterial agents from various sources to combat bacterial resistance. Therefore, a greater attention must be paid to antibacterial activity screening and evaluating methods. Several bioassays such as disk-diffusion, well diffusion and broth or agar dilution are well known and commonly used, but other methods are not widely used because they need some special equipment. Previous research works initially collected and reviewed which are published in the form of articles on an antibacterial effect from the year 2000-2016. In this review article, an exhaustive in vitro antibacterial susceptibility testing methods, sources of antibacterial compounds and basic information reported. It is very important to develop a better understanding of current methods available for quantifying the antibacterial effect of an extract or a pure compound for its applications in human health. We hope that this review will provide clear and basic ideas about the currently available techniques to evaluate the in vitro antibacterial activity. Through this information, researchers can try to develop new broad-spectrum antibiotics against bacteria, because most of the antibiotics currently used have led to drug resistance. A newly developed antibacterial compound must be destroy the bacteria locally, without being toxic to the surrounding tissue of human body.