Abstract
The genus Memecylon L. consists of more than 300 taxa, distributed mainly in the Old World. In Peninsular India, the genus Memecylon includes 34 species and nearly 18 species are endemic to the Western Ghats. Memecylon heyneayanum is an endemic and endangered tree species of Southern Western Ghats belonging to the family Melastomataceae, which is locally known as Kannavu, Kaya and Kanalai. It is a small tree growing in evergreen forests between the altitudes of 1500-2300 m asl. Being a medicinally promising species, the leaves of this evergreen tree are used to cure various ailments like diabetes, cough, leucorrhoea and menorrhagia. The powdered leaf was successively extracted with various solvents, Hexane, Petroleum ether, Chloroform, Acetone and Methanol through soxhlet apparatus. The extracts were tested for the antimicrobial activities against Bacillus cereus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Micrococcus mucilaginosus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella terrigena, E. coli, Candida glabrata, Candida albicans and Candida sp. by agar well diffusion method at various concentrations (100µg, 150µg and 200µg) of extracts. All the extracts were effectively tested against microorganisms and also compared with standard antibiotic (Ampicilin; 100mg/ml). The maximum antimicrobial activities were obtained with maximum zone of inhibition in methanol (200µg) extract followed by Acetone, Chloroform, Petroleum ether and Hexane. The current results indicated that the potentiality of methanolic leaf extract and this can be utilized as natural drug for the treatment of several infectious diseases by microorganisms.
Highlights
Nature has been a source of medicine for thousands of years and an impressive number of modern drugs have been derived from natural sources, many of these isolations were based on the uses of the agents in traditional medicine [1]
The results indicated that the leaf extracts might be used as natural drug for the treatment of several infectious diseases caused by these organisms and could be useful in understanding the relations between traditional cures and current medications
The petroleum etherleaf extract (200 μg/ml) of Memecylon heyneayanum showed (Table 5; Plate 5) higher zone of inhibition (15.57±1.08 mm – 13.01±1.69 mm) against Klebsiella pneumonia followed by Candida albicans, Micrococcus mucilaginosus, Pseudomonas aeuruginosa, Escherichia coli, Candida sp., Staphylococcus aureus, Candida glabrata, Bacillus cereus and Klebsiella terrigena
Summary
Nature has been a source of medicine for thousands of years and an impressive number of modern drugs have been derived from natural sources, many of these isolations were based on the uses of the agents in traditional medicine [1]. The importance of medicinal plants and traditional health systems in solving the health care problem of the world is gaining attention. Because of this resurgence of interest, the research on plants of medicinal importance is growing phenomenally at the international level, often to the detriment of natural habitats and mother populations in the countries of origin. The use of plants and plant products as medicines could be traced as far back as the beginning of human civilization. Every time before with the solvent the plant material was dried in a air oven below 5oC and these extracts were concentrated at 40oc under reduced used pressure (72m) with a rotary evaporator and dried using lyophilizer. Dried extract was collected in air tight container and store in 4oC for future use [10]
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