Bactericidal activities of some common herbs in India

Abstract

The bactericidal activities of the aqueous and methanol extracts of the leaves of three plants used as popular medicine in India were studied. The dried leaf extracts of Vangueria spinosa B. (Rubiaceae), Cestrum nocturnum L. (Solanaceae), and Nyctanthes arbortristis L. (Oleaceae) were tested in vitro by the disk diffusion method against four bacterial strains, namely, Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 2940), Bacillus subtilis (MTCC 441), Escherichia coli (MTCC 739), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC 2453). Both the aqueous and the methanol extracts of V. spinosa showed the strongest activity, followed by C. nocturnum and N. arbortristis. The only exception was P. aeruginosa, which, in turn, was found to be resistant against the aqueous extract of N. arbortristis. Aqueous extracts of the leaves of all the plants appeared to have less antibacterial activity than the methanol extracts. © 2007 Informa Healthcare.