Comparative Antimicrobial and Antioxidant potential of leaf extracts of Aegle marmelos from different regions of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Aegle marmelos (Rutaceae) also called as Bael is an important medicinal plant of Himalayan region. The present study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of different solvent extracts (n-hexane and ethanol) A. marmelos leaves from different locations of Himachal Pradesh. All the extracts were tested for the antioxidant potential by DPPH radical scavenging and FRAP assay and antimicrobial activity against Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus), Gram negative (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae) bacterial and fungal strains-Candida albicans (ATCC90028) and C. albicans (MTCC277) using broth dilution method. Significant variation in antioxidant potential was observed in the ethanolic extract of A. marmelos leaves from eight different locations of Himachal Pradesh. Ethanolic extract of Mandi (M3) region showed comparatively more antioxidant potential as revealed from lower IC50 value in DPPH (14.77µg/ml) in comparison to leaves extract of other districts; whereas n hexane extract of Bilaspur (B2) showed higher FRAP activity as shown by lower IC50 value (6.62µM) as compared to leaves extracts of other districts. Antioxidant potential of ethanol extract was slightly higher than that of n-hexane for all the populations of A. marmelos. Ethanolic extracts of Sirmour district (SM1) showed lowest Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) (7.81µg/ml) against S. aureus, ethanolic extract of Mandi (M3) showed lowest MIC (7.81µg/ml) against E. coli, whereas n-hexane extracts of Chamba (CH1) and Una (U2) showed lowest MIC value (7.81µg/ml) against K. pneumonia. The n-hexane extract of Solan (SO3), ethanolic extract of Kangra (K2), ethanolic extract of Chamba (CH3) showed least MIC (31.25µg/ml) against C. albicans (ATCC90028), whereas ethanolic extracts of district Mandi (M3) showed lowest MIC (31.25 µg/ml) against C. albicans (MTCC277). From the current study it may be concluded that leaf samples of A. marmelos from Mandi district has comparatively more antioxidant potential among all other samples, whereas comparative variation in antibacterial and antifungal activity of A. marmelos leaves from different geographical regions was observed.