Abstract
Objective: The present study was designed to evaluate the phytochemical screening, antimicrobial, and antioxidant activities from the roots and leaves of Leucas aspera.
 Methods: The phytochemical screening and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis of root and leaf extracts were studied using standard methods. The disk diffusion method was performed to analyze the antimicrobial activity of aqueous extract, methanol extract and hexane extract of root and leaf against to selected bacterial and fungal strains. Antibiotics, streptomycin and nystatin were used as standards for bacteria and fungi, respectively. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and scavenging of H2O2 free radicals.
 Results: Preliminary phytochemical screening of extracts exhibited the presence of carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, steroids flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins, alkaloids, tannins, and phlobatannins. Leaf extracts exhibited effective antibacterial and antifungal activities compared with root extracts against all the tested bacteria and fungi. ME of the leaves exhibited highest antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (12.8±0.31 mm), followed by Bacillus subtilis (11.4±0.3 mm), Escherichia coli (9.8±0.21 mm), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (7.3±0.29 mm). Leaf extracts of L. aspera showed effective scavenging activity compared with root extracts. ME of the leaves showed maximum scavenging activities of 38.39 and 36.85%, respectively, against DPPH and H2O2 free radicals with half maximal inhibitory concentration values of 136.17 and 142.42 μg/ml.
 Conclusion: Phytochemical analysis and FTIR spectrum revealed that different plant secondary metabolites particularly alkaloids, terpenoids, and flavonoids could be responsible for antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of L. aspera leaf extracts.
Highlights
Traditional medicine is an integral part of the primary health-care system in many countries such as India, China, and Sri Lanka
The present study reports the phytochemical screening, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, antimicrobial, and antioxidant activities of different extracts of roots and leaves of L. aspera
Phytochemical screening Phytochemical screening of the L. aspera suggests the presence of major phytochemicals in the root and leaf extracts (Tables 1 and 2)
Summary
Traditional medicine is an integral part of the primary health-care system in many countries such as India, China, and Sri Lanka. Plants are good examples and a number of plant species are known to have medicinal value. India is known for its incredible source of medicinal plants, and large body of evidence has been accumulated to highlight the potential use of medicinal plants against the harmful diseases. Over the past 100 years, development of chemotherapy and technology for the production of synthetic drugs changed the world scenario in medicine. Usage of synthetic drugs against a range of pathogenic microbes is becoming complicated due to non-response/modification of microbes. The wide usage of commercial antimicrobial drugs lead to side effects, and most notably, development of drug resistance in the majority of the pathogenic microbes is an another major problem. To minimize the synthetic antimicrobial drugs and to reduce side effects, screening of plants with antimicrobial properties is growing day-by-day
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