Antibacterial and Antioxidant Property of Selected Medicinal Plants of Daman VDC, Makawanpur District

Abstract

Altogether fifteen plants used to treat stomach troubles like indigestion, diarrhea and dysentery were selected for the study purpose. The medicinal plants were extracted in methanol by Percolation with intermittent Sonication method. Bergenia ciliata had the highest yield (20.03%) while Cautleya spicata had the lowest yield (2.90%). The methanol extracts of these plants were evaluated for antibacterial activity against medicinally important bacteria viz. Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and also evaluated for the antioxidant activity. The in vitro antibacterial activity was performed by agar well diffusion method. Among the 15 plants tested, in the present study, all plants except one (Achyranthes bidentata) showed activity against at least one bacterium. Bergenia ciliata, Coriaria napalensis, Potentilla fulgens, Pyracantha crenulata, Pyrus pashia and Rubus ellipticus inhibited all the tested bacteria at 50 µg/ml and 100 µg/ml. Lindera neesiana inhibited all the tested bacteria at 100 µg/ml only. Callicarpa macrophylla inhibited only 3 of the tested bacteria at 150 µg/ml while Galium aparine and Uraria picta inhibited Gram +ve bacteria only. Adiantum philippense, Anemone vitifolia, Campanuma paillida and Cautleya spicata inhibited Bacillus subtilis only. Most of the extracts showed activity against Gram +ve bacteria than Gram -ve bacteria. Highest phenolic content was obtained for Potentilla fulgens (90.73 ± 0.71 mg GAE/g) while the lowest was shown by Achyranthes bidentata (2.21 ± 0.19 mg GAE/g). Similarly, highest content of flavonoid was obtained for Adiantum philippense (21.19 ± 0.28 mg QE/g dry plant) and Cautleya spicata (21.19±0.52 mg QE/g dry plant) and lowest for Bergenia ciliata (1.78 ± 0.11 mg QE/g dry plant). Antioxidant activity of the methanolic extract was determined using DPPH method. Maximum IC 50 value was obtained for Achyranthes bidentata i.e. 127.55 and minimum for Bergenia ciliata i.e. 40.56. Thus, Bergenia ciliata was considered to be the best antioxidant among the sampled plant samples.