Original Articles
Mudiganti Ram Krishna Rao*, Sa
Abstract
With the increasing acceptance of herbal medicine as an alternative form of healthcare the screening of herbal medicines for active compounds has become very interesting as they may serve as promising sources with novel mechanism of drug action. The medicinal usage of Salmali, Bombax cieba has been reported in the traditional systems of medicine such as Ayurveda and Siddha. Current study is to find out the antioxidant properties, antimicrobial activities, GC MS analysis of the drug and the TLC ratios. Antioxidant competence of the drug was assessed by reducing power assay, peroxidase assay and catalase assay. The antimicrobial activity study of this drug on Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, E.coli and Candida albicans showed fare degree of inhibition where as on Candida albicans it was quite effective. The GC MS analysis indicated the presence of Cinnamic acid, m-derivative (RT value – 39.548), Benzimidazole-3-derivative (RT value- 39.548), Pyrazole (RT value – 39.258), Metolachlor (RT values – 38.963), Triamterene (RT Value -38.963) and Nitrazipam (38.963) among other minor compounds.The presence of these bioactive molecules in Salmali resin strongly advocate its strong antimicrobial, antioxidant activity as well for other medicinal values as claimed in Ayurveda