Screening of Indian medicinal plants for their antimicrobial property

Medicinal plants play a key role in human health care. Over the side effects of allopathic drugs, the medical world move towards to the plant kingdom for the treatment of various ailments¹. Many people are infected by venereal diseases, where most of them are causing by infectious microbial agents. Indigenous people tend to use several medicinal plants to treat these infectious diseases rather than western medicines. Therefore, the present study was carried out to screened the different herbs to evalutes their antimicobial properties. The dried plant materials i.e. flowers, stem, fruit, seeds and leaves of ten medicinal plants (Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f., Alstonia scholaris (L.) R.Br., Annona squamosa L., Cressa cretica L., Mangifera indica L., Momordica dioica Wall., Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb., Rosa centifolia L., Thevetia peruviana K.Schum. and Zamia furfuracea L.f.) were extracted with 100% methanol (MeOH). The extracts were evaluated for their antimicrobial properties against Gram-positive (Bacillus coagulans), Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria, using Well diffusion method². The presented results offer supporting evidence for effective use of selected plant extracts. It also supports the wealth of nature and shows that most of the plant materials possess antimicrobial property. They have different inhibition zones but gives a basic idea of the uses of these plants as antimicrobial agents. However, more in vitro confirmatory tests using other assays and/or in vivo tests are required.

Keywords: Medicinal plants, antimicrobial activity, Bacillus coagulans, Escherichia coli

References: 1. Brindha D, Saroja S and Jeyanthi GP (2010)J Basic Clin Physiol Pharmacol 21(4): 401–413.

2. Baur AW, Kirby WMM, Sherris JC and Truck M (1966) Am J Clin Pathol 45: 493–496