Comparative Study of the Efficacy of Barleria prionitis Leaf Extracts against Bacteria

Bacterial infections are one of the prominent causes of health problems, physical disabilities and mortalities around the world. Symptoms and complications associated with bacterial infections such as fever, chills, headache, nausea, vomiting and organ failures affect patient's life severely. Medicinal plants are a rich source of antimicrobial agents and provide a safer and cost effective way of treating bacterial infections. We report in this work for the first time, the potent antibacterial activity of different leaf extracts of Barleria prionotis L. The objectives of this study were to examine the antibacterial effect using different extract [petroleum ether (40°-60°), chloroform, ethanol (70%)] and column fraction of Barleria prionitis Linn (Acanthaceae) leaf and to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the different Barleria prionitis Linn (Acanthaceae) leaf extract and column fraction. S. typhi (Ty 2-59) [Chloroform extract, Column fraction]; V. cholerae (DN-6) [Column fraction]; V. cholerae (793) [Chloroform extract]; V. cholerae (813) [Chloroform extract, Column fraction]; M. luteus (ATCC-9341) [Chloroform extract, Column fraction]; L. sporogenus [Chloroform extract] and Citrobacter [Chloroform extract, Column fraction] were inhibited at 5mg/ml level. B. subtils (PI-6633) [Pet. ether extract] inhibited at 3.33mg/ml level. B. cereus (PI-11778) [Column fraction] and Providencia [Chloroform extract, Column fraction] were inhibited at 50mg/ml level.