ISSN 2756-3413
African Journal of Virology Research ISSN 3421-7347 Vol. 1 (6), pp. 090-097, June, 2007. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
In vitro screening of antibacterial activity of various Indian plant species
*Misra Eradi Sujata
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Delhi, Delhi, India.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: eradi_sujata@ac.in.
Accepted 13 April, 2007
Abstract
Thirty four medicinal plants, belonging to twenty eight different families, were screened for potential antibacterial activity against six bacterial strains belonging to Enterobacteriaceae, viz. Enterobacter aerogenes ATCC13048, Escherichia coli ATCC25922, Klebsiella pneumoniae NCIM2719, Proteus mirabilis NCIM 2241, Proteus vulgaris NCTC8313, and Salmonella typhimurium ATCC23564. Antibacterial activity of aqueous and alcoholic extracts was tested by the agar disc diffusion and agar well diffusion methods. The ethanol/methanol extracts were more active than aqueous extracts for all the plants studied. The most susceptible bacterium was K. pneumoniae, while the most resistant bacteria were S. typhimurium and E. coli. From the screening experiment, Woodfordia fruticosa Kurz. showed best antibacterial activity. Hence, this plant may be used further to isolate and evaluate the therapeutic antimicrobials.
Key words: Medicinal plants, antibacterial activity, aqueous extracts, alcoholic extracts, Enterobacteriaceae.