Abstract
Medicinal plants are being used for the treatment of several ailments by the local tribes in Mizoram, North East India. The present study was focused to analyze the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of a widely used traditional medicinal plant, Blumea lanceolaria. Total phenol content was found to be high in the ethanolic extract of leaf (33.91 mg GAE/g DW) in comparison to root and stem of the plant. Reducing activity was measured by potassium ferricyanide reducing (FRAP) assay and found to be highest in the methanolic extract of root (39.29 mg GAE/g DW). Methanolic extracts of root showed highest reducing activity of superoxide dismutase (9.4 SOD units/ mg protein) and ascorbic acid oxidase (1.52 ascorbic acid oxidase units/mg proteins). A positive correlation was obtained between total phenol content and antioxidant activities of the extracts. The screening of the antibacterial activity of different extracts was conducted by using agar well diffusion test against three human bacterial pathogens. Ethanol extracts of stem, root and leaf showed promising results against Staphylococcus aureus with high (10 to 12 mm) inhibition zone as compared to standard antibiotics (2 to 10 mm). This study concludes that B. lanceolaria has high antioxidant and antibacterial activities and could be used as a potent plant in the treatment of a variety of ailments. Key words: Blumea lanceolaria, ethno-medicine, antimicrobial activity, phenolic content, antioxidant activity.
Highlights
Several new antibiotics are being produced annually by pharmacological industries, whereas resistance to these drugs by micro-organisms has increased gradually.The mortality rates in the hospitals are increasing due to new infection caused by multi-drug resistant bacterial strains (Cohen, 1992)
Phenolic compounds improve the quality of plants by hindering oxidative degradation of lipids
The dried plant materials were ground to fine powder and stored in air tight dark bottles at room temperature. 10 g of each plant materials were extracted by mixing with distilled water
Summary
Several new antibiotics are being produced annually by pharmacological industries, whereas resistance to these drugs by micro-organisms has increased gradually. The mortality rates in the hospitals are increasing due to new infection caused by multi-drug resistant bacterial strains (Cohen, 1992). The use of synthetic drugs can have serious side-effects and are ineffective for sustainable disease management (Sydney, 1980; Cunha, 2001). It is necessary to search the Replacement of synthetic antimicrobials with natural products that can inhibit the resistance mechanisms. Plant extracts have great potential as antimicrobial compounds and are being used for the treatment of infections caused by resistant microbes (Silvia et al, 2013; Nascimento et al, 2011). Phenolic compounds improve the quality of plants by hindering oxidative degradation of lipids. Phenols comprise the largest group of plant secondary metabolites and have multiple
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