English

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To find out the bactericidal effect of extract of the Acacia catechu and Ficus hispida which are commonly used by the local quacks for the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery in the villages of the state of Manipur where the medical facilities are not available. METHODS: The plant barks are collected from different parts of Manipur during the period of March 2006 to February 2007, dried at room temperature; make powder in the grinder and soxhlated at low temperature to get the yield (extract). In case of Acacia catechu dried power form is available in the market. The powder is soxhlated to get the yield. These extracts are tested for the bactericidal effect in serial dilutions against the known strain of Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) and incubated at 37 0 C overnight. After overnight incubation, the tubes are checked for the growth of the organisms and from the tubes sub cultures are made serially corresponding to the dilutions on to the Blood agar, Mac Conkey and Nutrient agar media, incubated at 370C overnight. After overnight incubation, the dilution where the growth of the organisms does not occurred, are noted and tabulated. RESULT: The aqueous extract of Acacia catechu shows bactericidal effect up to the dilution of 1:8 whereas the aqueous extract of Ficus hispida shows no bactericidal effect even at higher concentration. CONCLUSION: These plants extract have been using for the treatment of ailments in the villages of the state of Manipur by the local quacks since time immemorial. In this study it has seen that Acacia catechu has the medicinal properties whereas Ficus hispida has no bactericidal property though the plant has other medicinal properties. It is therefore, necessary to do further studies to identify the ingredients present in this two plants for safe use and large scale production in the state.