International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences

ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 9 (2013) pp. 160-163

Comparative assessment on antibacterial activity of bark of Carallia brachiata (Lour.) Merr prepared in single and gradient extraction methods

Anju Abraham and Toji Thomas*

Post Graduate and Research Department of Botany, St. Thomas College Palai, Arunapuram P.O. Pala, Kerala-686574, India *Corresponding author e-mail: tojidr@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Bark of Carallia brachiata was evaluated for antibacterial activity in gradient extraction and single extraction (95% ethanol) methods. Gradient extraction was conducted using petroleum ether, acetone, ethanol, and water as extracting solvents in the gradation of increasing polarity. Single extraction method is common in homeopathic medicine preparations. We compared antibacterial activity in both methods. Antibacterial activity was tested towards ten pathogenic bacterial strains. The antibacterial activity was observed at its maximum in acetone extract prepared in gradient fashion. All the 10 bacterial strains showed considerable inhibition of growth in acetone extract. Acetone extract of the bark showed like minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values of 12.5mg/ml and 25mg/ml. towards Serratia marcescens. Single ethanolic extraction method is commonly employed for preparing medicines in Homeopathy; our investigation showed that gradient extraction method could give better results compared to single extraction in 95% ethanol.

Keywords

Carallia brachiata; antibacterial activity; bark extracts; gradient extraction; disc diffusion.