Original Articles
K. Prasanna1, S. Yuwvaranni2 a
Abstract
Medicinal plants have been studied for its activity over pathogenic species which has produced more suitable compounds to treat that particular pathogen. The medicinal plants Vitex negundo and Datura metel leaves aqueous extracts has been studied against E.coli MTCC 443 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC 2488. The extract was prepared by soxhlet extractor at 1:5 ratio of powdered leaves and solvent by which extracts were air dried. The dried material was subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening and antibacterial activity. Disc diffusion method was followed with varying concentration ranging from 50mg/ml to 250mg/ml. The zone of inhibition recorded to be 18mm and 20mm for E.coli and for Pseudomonas aeruginosa to be 15mm and 21mm respectively. The resulted zone of inhibition was compared with commercial ampicillin disc and zone observed to be 20mm and 24mm. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonid, phenols, saponins, terpenoids and volatile oils. The zone formed due to the activity of the secondary metabolites over the pathogenic strains and observed results from this study has provided potential agent to treat common pathogens through effective medications by developing these secondary metabolites into potential drug source.