Original Articles
Nivetha Thampi* and S. Nandha
Abstract
The enlarging prevalence of drug resistant bacteria and booming incidences of oxidative stress-related degenerative diseases has paved the way for the identification of novel drugs from natural sources. Even though researches have been conducted in various plant species to exploit their therapeutic applications, there still exist lacunae in the exploration of the medicinal properties of authentic plants that could be a rich source of treasured phytocompounds. In this study, the antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant activities of Shorea robusta, Hyptis suaveolens, Spathodea campanulata were evaluated. The fresh leaves (H. suaveolens, S. campanulata) and powdered oleoresins (S. robusta) were extracted using methanol, petroleum ether, acetone, chloroform and water to test their efficacies as antimicrobial agents against strains of Micrococcus luteus, Proteus vulgaris, Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. The aqueous and methanolic extract of all the three plants exhibited good antibacterial activity, while the chloroform extracts proved its potential as a better antifungal agent. The ability of all the extracts from H. suaveolens, S. campanulata and S. robusta to scavenge free radicals was ascertained by hydrogen peroxide method. The methanolic and aqueous extracts of H. suaveolens and S. campanulata displayed promising results where as S. robusta extracts showed moderate activity. The observations made in this study support the use of these plants as a natural remedy and as a low cost intervention in the enhanced therapy for drug resistance and other diseases. It can be concluded that this study would definitely lead to the establishment of new and more potent drugs from cheaper native plants from natural origin.