The Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center - Shroomery

ABSTRACT
organisms. Results of this experiment are given in Table 2.
The antimicrobial effects of the acetone extraction did not depend on gram staining characteristics. A. faecalis and P. fluorescens are gram
negative organisms, and the extract had no effect. However, it inhibited the growth of the gram negative organisms C. freundi, E. coli, and P.
aeruginosa. Conversely, the solution had no effect on M. luteus, S. aureus, S. epidermidis, and S. lactis, although it did inhibit the growth of
another gram positive organism, B. subtilis.
The morphology of the microbe did affect the result. Gram negative and gram positive cocci were in all cases unaffected by the acetone
extract. However, gram positive, negative, and variable rods were either inhibited or slightly inhibited. The rods B. cereus, P. fluorescens,
and E. aerogenes were the exceptions. Figure 2 shows the division of rod-shaped species into families and their sensitivity to S. divinorum
extract.
The effect of S. divinorum on duodenal smooth muscle is not clear, although the extract appears to decrease the frequency of phasic
contractions while increasing their duration. Typically, contractions occurred approximately once every two seconds when the muscle was
bathed in pure Tyrode’s solution. However, when bathed in 100% S. divinorum extract, contractions appeared to stop completely. When
flushed with Tyrode’s solution, the muscle recovered almost completely. When the duodenum was bathed in 50% S. divinorum extract, the
muscle would contract for approximately 15 seconds, relax for about 2 seconds, and then contract again. By comparison, when the muscle
was bathed in extract of L. nobilis, the muscle would stop contracting and would not recover when flushed with Tyrode’s solution. Figure 3
shows the tracings produced from a single strip of duodenal smooth muscle treated with S. divinorum.
Discussion and Conclusion
Agar diffusion is an excellent method to quickly determine anti-microbial properties, but has a few sources of error. Among them is [1]
clerical error in recording data, [2] reader error in measuring zone diameters, and [3] contamination or changes in the bacterial strain being
tested (27). Also, agar diffusion may not give an accurate picture of the effectiveness of an antibiotic within a living organism. Microbes may
show in vitro sensitivity to an antibiotic, with little or no sensitivity to it in vivo (29).
Our preliminary testing with duodenal smooth muscle produced variable results. In three of the mice tested, 15 to 20 second contractions
were recorded, but in two, this result could not be reproduced. This may have been due to problems with the measuring equipment. At times,
the muscle was visibly contracting, yet produced no tracing. Also, a larger sample size is necessary for statistical analysis.
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