Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activity of Medicinal Plants

In the present study, three plants were screened for potential antibacterial and antioxidant activity.The plants screened were Rosa indica, Azadirachta indica and Moringa oleifera which are traditionally used in India to treat various diseases. In evaluating the antibacterial activity two organic solvents were used i.e. acetone and ethanol to extract the antimicrobial components. Antibacterial activity was tested against two Gram positive i.e. Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus pumulis and two gram negative i.e. Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli bacterial strains. The antibacterial nature of extracts was assessed by agar well diffusion method. The ethanolic extracts of Rosa indica petals were found to be most effective against all the pathogens used. The MIC was determined only for ethanolic extracts and found to be ranging between 0.025mg /ml to 33.33mg/ml. In evaluating antioxidant activity, all three plants were screened for total phenols, flavonoids and free radical scavenging activity. Free radical scavenging activity was evaluated using DPPH. Significant differences in DPPH scavenging activity were found between the species investigated ranging from 74.72 per cent to 83.40 per cent. The total phenol content of the investigated species ranged from 74 to 96 mg CE/g extract while flavonoid content ranged from 39 to 52 mg QE/g extract. In addition photosynthetic pigments (Chl A, Chl B, and carotene) were also determined for all three plants under study.