Studies on antimicrobial activity of Lawsonia inermis L. against different strains of bacteria and fungi

Abstract

Natural plant products are a significant source of synthetic and traditional medicines. The majority of the world population, especially in developing countries, is dependent on herbal formulations for their primary health care needs. Lawsonia inermis is a popular medicinal plant and possess many pharmacological properties. The present study was carried out to estimate the antimicrobial activity of L inermis leaves of the mother plant, regenerated plants and callus extract to justify the pharmaceutical aspect of the plant to provide herbal plant products as phytochemistry in Ayurveda as well as ethnobotanical aspect of the plant.The antimicrobial activity was determined with the help of the agar well diffusion method by using some Grampositive;Bacillu subtilius MTCC441, Bacillus cereus MTCC430, Staphylococcus aureus MTCC96,Gram-negative; Escherichia coli MTCC1885,Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC424 and fungal strains Candida albicans MTCC227.Leaves and callus extract were tested against these microorganisms in different types of solvent as Methanolic, Ethanolic, Aqueous, Acetone, Hexane, Chloroform and Diethyl ether were investigated by agar well diffusion method. Different extraction procedures were done by using the soxhlet apparatus.Dilutions were made for the extract and it was noticed that the zones of inhibitions were increased ith the concentration of the extracts. Methanolic leaves extract was found best extract for antimicrobial activity of L. inermis in comparison to other extracts.The maximum zone of inhibition was 13.79±1.7mm in methanolic extracts of leaves against B. subtilis and the minimum zone of inhibition was noticed 09.40±1.7 mm against B. cereus.The value of the zone of inhibition was more in the case of leaves extracts as compared to callus extracts.This study showed that methanolic leaves extracts of L. inermis inhibit the growth of microorganisms dose-dependently.The leaves of Lawsonia inermis support the traditional use of the plant in therapy of bacterial infection.