Abstract

CONTROL OF PAEDIATRIC INFECTIONS WITH EXTRACTS OF COMMON INDIAN HERBS

K. Padma Dorothy*, Pooja Agrawal and G. Vijayalakshmi

ABSTRACT

The present study purported to establish the inhibitory activity of gel and leaf extract of a common succulent herb, Aloe vera, leaf extracts of Spinacia oleracea and Coriandrum sativum by REMA plate method. The test organisms used were Gram positive microorganism Mycobacterium smegmatis as a model organism for M. tuberculosis, Streptococcus mutans, primary causative agent in the formation of dental caries and Gram negative pathogen, Klebsiella pneumoniae implicated in childhood pneumonia. Chromatogram of chloroform extracts of S. oleracea leaf showed 8 distinct bands, thereby indicating high amount of phyto-constituents, which had inhibitory activity against pathogens based on bioautobiography. In some extracts specific phytochemical components were found to have inhibitory activity while in some extracts the synergistic effect of t7he crude extract is recognized. The MICs of the methanolic extract of A. vera gel, pet. ether and methanolic leaf extract is significantly high against M. smegmatis and chloroform extract against K. pneumoniae. In our study, the tested plant extracts were most effective against M. smegmatis and K. pneumoniae, having inhibitory activity at a low concentration of 0.03 mg/ml. The petroleum ether extract of S. oleracea leaf showed effective inhibition against S. mutans at a concentration of 0.03 mg/ml. The effective inhibition of the tested plant extracts against harmful pathogens was in the order: M. smegmatis> K. pneumoniae>S. mutans. The MICs ranged from 0.03 to 0.25 mg/ml for petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol and ethyl acetate extracts. The inhibitory activity of the tested plant extracts was of the order: S. oleracea leaf>A. leaf> C. sativum leaf >A. vera gel. The effectiveness of the tested solvents used for extraction of phyto-constituents was of the order Methanol> Chloroform> Petroleum ether> Ethyl acetate. Percentage cell inhibition results showed high effectiveness of methanolic extract of S. oleracea leaf against M. smegmatis. Around 50% of M. smegmatis cells were inhibited at 0.03 mg/ml concentration of the tested plant extracts. The total activity of all the plant extracts ranged from 240 to >1000 demonstrating the significant antimicrobial properties of the plants investigated.

Keywords: plant extracts, MIC, TLC, total activity.