Phytoconstituents and Antimicrobial Activity of Walsura trifoliata (A. Juss.) Harms.

Background/Objectives: Walsura trifoliata is known for its ethno botanical uses but only scant data is left with scientific proof; moreover, globally there is a spur in documenting and establishing database for available medicinal plants. We report here the medicinal uses of W. trifoliata.

Methods: The crude extract obtained from various parts of the plant viz. leaves, bark and ischolar_main using hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol solvents were investigated. The shade dried plant parts were powdered and subjected to solvent extraction. The crude extract obtained after evaporating the solvent was dissolved in dimethyl sulphoxide before any test or analysis. The pathogenic bacteria used were Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the pathogenic fungi were Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Botrytis cinerea, Trycophyton rubrum and Trichophyton mentagrophytes.

Results: Maximum antibacterial activity of methanol ischolar_main extract (16 mm inhibition zone with 5 mg/ml) was observed with Staphylococcus aureus on Muller Hinton Agar medium. However, the bark extract of the solvent imposed only moderate activity on the bacterium (12 mm inhibition zone with 5 mg/ml). Leaf extracts from all solvent systems recorded poor inhibition in the given concentration. Candida albicans, Trycophyton rubrum and Trichophyton mentagrophytes showed minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.31 mg/ml with methanol ischolar_main extract. The minimum inhibitory concentration was greater than 2 mg/ml in hexane extract of leaf, bark and ischolar_main. In the present study the antimicrobial activity was significant in methanol ischolar_main extract of Walsura trifoliata.

Conclusion: The methanol extract obtained from the ischolar_main of Walsura trifoliata has significant antimicrobial activity due to the phytochemical components present in the ischolar_main.