Abstract

IN VITRO ANTIMICROBIAL EVALUATION OF COPPER SULPHATE, MERCURY CHLORIDE AND THEIR COMBINATION

Vaithehi V. N., Sakthi Abirami M.*, Lenin Kumar R., Sathish Kumar G. and Suresh Kumar V.

ABSTRACT

Metals have been used as antimicrobial agents since antiquity. Recent studies indicate that different metals cause discrete and distinct types of injuries to microbial cells as a result of oxidative stress, protein dysfunction or membrane damage. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of Metallic salts combination over the activities of the individual metallic salts of Copper sulphate and Mercury chloride at the concentration of 5μg/ml, 10 μg/ml, 50 μg/ml and 100 μg/ml in the following microorganisms Bacteria & Fungi [Acinetobacter baumannii (Gram negative), Enterococcus faecium (Gram positive), Klebsiella pneumoniae (Gram negative), Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans] by Zone Of Inhibition(ZOI) method. The observation made from the results that the activity of metallic salts combination was more even at half of the concentrations of Copper sulfate and Mercury chloride (50% CuSO4 & 50% HgCl2 at each concentration) which were used for individual metallic salt solution.

Keywords: Copper sulfate, Mercury chloride and their combination; Microorganisms [Bacteria - Acinetobacter baumannii (Gram negative), Enterococcus faecium (Gram positive) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (Gram negative) & Fungi - Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans]