Validation of a 16th Century Traditional Chinese Medicine Use of Ginkgo biloba as a Topical Antimicrobial

This study aimed to examine the traditional use of Ginkgo seeds as topical treatment for skin disorders for potential antibacterial efficacy. This is the first study to test and compare the antibacterial activity of various Ginkgo seed extracts on skin pathogens. In this work, we confirmed the ethnomedicinal importance of seeds in the treatment of skin diseases. As reported in the Compendium of Materia Medica Ben Cao Gang Mu, only the seeds were used for medicinal uses, especially as a topical treatment for skin infections. Moreover, our study validates the antimicrobial activity of the seed (i.e., seed coats and immature seeds) on three common skin pathogens: Cutibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes by inhibiting their growth and their biofilm formation (for C. acnes and S. aureus). While the immature seeds have not been studied before, seed coats from Ginkgo biloba have previously demonstrated antibacterial activity against other Gram-positive bacteria, such as vancomycin resistant Enterococcus spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Listeria innocua, Streptococcus pyogenes, as well as on Gram-negative bacteria including Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and Shigella dysenteriae (Choi et al., 2009; Carraturo et al., 2014). Compared to seed nuts, the seed coats and immature seeds exhibited higher inhibitory activities on C. acnes, S. aureus, and S. pyogenes strains. Although seed coats and immature seeds exhibited the highest antib...
Source: Frontiers in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research