Evaluation of an edible polyherbal formulation against urinary tract infection pathogens, its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential

Abstract

Nature has bestowed valuable gifts from plants that serve mankind with food and medicine. The folklore systems of medicine has led to a scientific revolution in various fields of nutraceutics and phytopharmacotherapy. The use of polyherbal formulations have also not been scientifically proven yet for their active principles. Thus the study was framed to analyze an edible standardized polyherbal formulation which is consumed by women especially where the requirement of dietary food supplements increases during the parturition and postpartum period to fight Urinary tract infections. The formulation was analysed showing presence of secondary metabolites higher in ethyl acetate extract for phenolics (346.88 ± 35.53 mg GAE/g extract), tannins (100.32 ± 3.23 mg TAE/g extract) and flavonoids (53.17 ± 4.58 mg QE/g extract). Efficient activity was found in methanol extract with 98.63% inhibition (DPPH scavenging potential); 117.67 ± 1.17 mM Fe (II) E/g extract (FRAP assay) and 87.55 ± 5.62 μM TEAC/g extract (ABTS scavenging potential) in hexane extract. Also found to have 36.54% inhibition in water extract for anti-inflammatory activity. The ethyl acetate extract of the formulation readily proves to be highly effective against pathogens such as Escherichia coli (ZOI- 19 ± 1 mm; MIC- 100 μg/ml; MBC- 125 μg/ml), Klebsiella pneumoniae (ZOI- 9.5 ± 0.5; MIC- 450 μg/ml; MBC- 475 μg/ml) and Proteus mirabilis (10.5 ± 1.32; MIC- 375 μg/ml; MBC- 400 μg/ml), however methanol extract was highly significant against Pseudomonas aeroginosa. The results were evident for the nutritional, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial potential of the polyherbal formulation.