Abstract

Mugwort was successively fractionated with n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and water and the fractions were evaluated by their growth-promoting activites for Bifidobacterium sp. in vitro experiments. The growths of Bifidobacterium adolescentis, B. bifidum, B. infantis and B.longum were enhanced with the addition of the water fraction, while the fractions of chloroform and ethylacetate inhibited Clostridium perfringens. When the wate fraction was added to media at a concentration of 0.01-0.5%(w/v), the growhts of Bifidobacterium sp. were increased according to the concentration of water fraction used. The water fraction stimulated also the growth of lactobacillus acidophillus, whereas those of E. coli and Enterococcus faecalis were not affected. The growth-promoting activity of water fraction was stable at the range of pH 2 to pH 10 and kept in thermal treatment at 10$0^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes.

Keywords

• Mugwort;
• Fractionation;
• Bifudobacterium sp.;
• Intestinal microoganism