Original Articles
V. Soundaryadevi and V. Jeyama
Abstract
Medicinal plants have a promising future because there are about half million plants around the world, and their medical values still remains unexplored much, and their medical activities could be decisive in the treatment of present or future studies. The current study is undertaken to ascertain the antibacterial activity of crude with step gradient solvent of methanol, acetone, petroleum ether in leaves of Abutilon indicum and Datura stramonium. The extracts were prepared in methanol (M) and petroleum ether (P) and in Methanol (M) and acetone (A) in various proportions M:P and M:A viz. 100:0, 80:20, 60:40, 40:60, 20:80 and 0:100%. These extracts were examined for antibacterial activity using agar well diffusion method against four bacterial pathogens, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi. Among the tested pathogens B. cereus, S. typhi and S. aureus were found to be the most susceptible to the combined extract. The M:P (80:20) and M:A (0:100) of combined extract shown highest activity in S. typhi, B. cereus and S. aureus. These proportion were subjected to free radical scavenging activity on DPPH and the result showed that 100% acetone extract have showed highest scavenging potential. The results reveals from this study would support the use of natural plant as a cheap, environmentally safe and reliable source for the treatment of diseases.