| International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences |
| ISSN: 2319-7692 Volume 2 Number 3 (2013) pp.75 84 |
| Phyto-chemical Screening and Antibacterial Activity of Five Indian Medicinal Plants against Human Pathogens |
| R. SenthilNath1, P.M. Balu2* and K.Murugesan3 |
| 1Department of Biochemistry, Muthayammal College of Arts and Science, Kakkaveri, Rasipuram, Tamil Nadu, India 2Department of Biochemistry, Kanchi Shri Krishna College of Arts and Science, Kilambi, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India 3CAS in Botany, University of Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India *Corresponding Author: baalusbiochem@gmail.com |
| A B S T R A C T |
| The medicinal plants represent an enormous reservoir of potential phytochemical compounds that could be useful as an alternative to synthetic microbicides and are being used to develop drugs. In the present study, five selected Indian medicinal plants such as Andrograpis paniculata, Cassia alata, Cardiospermum halicacabum, nyctanthes arbortritis and solanum nigrum were analyzed for phytochemical constituents and tested for antibacterial activity against human pathogens. In most of the samples all the phytochemicals i.e. reducing sugar, Terpenoids, Flavonoids, Saponins, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, carbohydrates and phytosterols were present. However in some samples the anthraquinones and the tannins were absent. Methanol, ethyl acetate, chloroform and aqueous extracts of leaf samples of all plants were evaluated for in vitro antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Micrococcus luteus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa by agar plate well diffusion method. All the plant extracts showed significant antibacterial activity against the tested organisms. However, methanol extracts showed maximum inhibitory effect from this C. halicacabum and C. alata were showed maximum bacterial inhibition than other plants. |
| Keywords |
| Indian medicinal plants; Phytochemical screening; antibacterial activity; Human pathogens |