Abstract

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES OF SOME MEDICINAL PLANTS OF RED AND LATERITE ZONE OF WEST BENGAL, INDIA

*Sankar Kumar Dey, Sourav Chattopadhyay and Nimai Chand Masanta

ABSTRACT

The present study was designed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the both aqueous and methanol extracts of nine traditional used folk medicinal plants, namely Aerva javanica, Coccinia indica, Pterocarpus santalinus, Mangifera indica, Hemidesmus indicus, Eupatorium ayapana, Heliotropium indicum, Barleria lupulina and Scoparia dulcis. Antibacterial activity was tested against six strains of both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. The susceptibility of the microorganisms to the extracts of these plants was compared with each other and with selected antibiotics. The result showed that, the methanol extracts of selected medicinal plants exhibited high activity against the tested organisms rather than aqueous extract of those plants. So, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the methanol extract of selected plants was studied. Extract from Mangifera indica showed higher antimicrobial activity than the other plants extracts.

Keywords: Pathogenic bacteria, Medicinal plants, Antibacterial activity, MIC, Cytotoxicity.