Abstract
Objective: Increasing prevalence of bacterial resistance has made an important public health issue in the modern world. Nowadays, many research efforts have been directed toward the development of drugs from medicinal plants for the treatment of diseases caused by microorganisms. Hence, the present attempt has been made to evaluate the bactericidal potency of traditional medicinal plant, Justicia adhatoda against selected clinical pathogens.
 Methods: Leaf extracts of J. adhatoda were subjected to standard phytochemical analyses by qualitative color tests to confirm the presence of active Phytoconstituents. Bactericidal potency of the leaf extracts of J. adhatoda was assessed by growth inhibition zone against Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. Sensitivity of the tested bacterial strains was also checked with standard reference antibiotic vancomycin.
 Results: Qualitative phytochemical analyses revealed the presence of alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids, tannins, steroids, anthraquinones, saponins, resins, glycosides, and phenols. Fourier-transform infrared spectrum confirmed the presence of phytochemicals belong to various functional groups such as alkenes, alkanes, aliphatic and aromatic amines, aldehydes, esters, alcohols, and phenols. Results on bactericidal efficacy demonstrated that solvents used in the present experiment showed higher activity in the order ethanol >ethyl acetate >chloroform >diethyl ether >methanol >acetone >water. Leaf extracts of J. adhatoda showed the higher activity for different clinical pathogens in the order of P. aeruginosa >B. cereus >E. coli >K. pneumoniae >S. aureus. Among the tested bacterial pathogens, B. cereus exhibited maximum susceptibility (18.33±0.94 mm) toward ethyl acetate extract. The maximum activity index (2.67±0.42) and fold area increase (6.31±2.24) were also observed against B. cereus for ethyl acetate extract.
 Conclusion: The present study revealed that J. adhatoda has broad spectrum of antibacterial activity and a potential source of antibacterial agents that could be useful for the control of infectious diseases.
Highlights
Increased resistance of microorganisms to conventional drugs has necessitated the search for new efficient and cost effective ways for the control of infectious diseases [1]
Ethanol, methanol, chloroform, ethyl acetate, diethyl ether, nutrient agar, nutrient broth, Mueller-Hinton agar, agar-agar, and standard antibiotic disk Vancomycin were purchased from HiMedia (P) Ltd, Mumbai, India
The findings from the present study indicated that the antimicrobial activity may vary with the nature of the solvents used for extraction [24]
Summary
Increased resistance of microorganisms to conventional drugs has necessitated the search for new efficient and cost effective ways for the control of infectious diseases [1]. This would trigger immense interest in the search for new antimicrobial drugs of plant origin [2]. It is expected that plant extracts showing target sites on microorganisms other than those used by antibiotics. It will be active against drug-resistant microbial pathogens [4]. The medicinal values attributed to plants are a function of the bioactive phytochemical constituents. Phytochemicals have antioxidant or hormone like effect which helps in fighting against many diseases including cancer, heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, and preventing the formation of carcinogens on their target tissues [8]
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