Research J. Pharm. and Tech. 7(7): July 2014
ISSN 0974-3618
www.rjptonline.org
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Antibacterial and Antifungal Activity of Melaleuca decora and Syngonium podophyllum Saad Touqeer*, Muhammad Asad Saeed, Sharjeel Adnan, Farrukh Mehmood, Mueen Ahmad Ch Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan. *Corresponding Author E-mail:
[email protected]
ABSTRACT: The present study was aimed to investigate the antibacterial and antifungal activities of methanolic extract of Melaleuca decora aerial parts and Syngonium podophyllum whole plant. Agar disk diffusion method was used. The bacteria tested included Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus cereus, Proteus mirabilis and Klebsella pneumonia whereas the fungal strains tested included Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisae. M. decora showed antibacterial activity against four strains being highest for K. pneumonia and E. coli. S. podophyllum showed considerable activity against S. aureus while low activity for B. cereus and P. mirabilis. Both plants exhibited antifungal activity only against S. cerevisae. Results showed that both plants possess potent antibacterial and antifungal activities.
KEYWORDS: Antibacterial; Antifungal; Activity; Methanolic; Extract; Clinical isolates; Disk diffusion INTRODUCTION: Infectious diseases are one of the main causes of death worldwide. With the emergence of new drug resistant strains scientists are paying more efforts to discover new and efficient antimicrobial drugs. Medicinal plants are good source of different therapeutically active compounds. A large number of plants have been explored for their antimicrobial activity and different potent phytochemicals isolated from them are being prescribed by practitioners worldwide.1,2 Melaleuca dacora belongs to the Myrtaceae, a family consisting of approximately 230 species. The plants belonging to this family generally have spicy and aromatic odor. 3,4 Until present, the essential oil of the plant has been only studied for antimicrobial activity and some phytoconstituents.5,6 Syngonium podophyllum belongs to the family Araceae. The plant has been previously studied for anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities.7,8 Phytochemical studies on the volatile oil of the plant have also been carried out. 9
The aim of the present study is to investigate the antibacterial and antifungal activities of the two plants on a variety of bacterial and fungal strains of clinical origin in order to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of the plants in clinical scenario.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Plant material: The aerial parts of Melaleuca decora and the whole plant of Syngonium podophyllum were collected during the winter season from different parts of Pattoki, Pakistan. The plant material was identified by Dr. Ajaib Choudhary, Department of Botany, Government College University Lahore. The voucher number received for M. decora was GC. Bot. Herb. 2206 whereas that for S. podophyllum was GC. Bot. Herb. 2207. Preparation of extract: The plant material was dried under shade and ground into coarse powder. It was extracted by cold maceration twice using methanol. The extract obtained was concentrated using rotary evaporator and then finally air dried to obtain a solid mass. Chemicals: Culture media were purchased from Himedia, India whereas methanol was obtained from Panreac, Spain.
Received on 04.05.2014 Modified on 18.05.2014 Accepted on 13.06.2014 © RJPT All right reserved Research J. Pharm. and Tech. 7(7): July 2014 Page 776-778
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Microorganisms tested: The clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus cereus, Proteus mirabilis and Klebsella pneumonia were used for the antibacterial assay whereas the clinical isolates of Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisae were used for carrying out the antifungal assay. All the microbial strains were supplied by Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Lahore. Antimicrobial assays: Antibacterial activity of methanolic extract was determined using a previously reported disk diffusion method of Mbata et al, with some minor modifications. 10 400 µg of the plant extract was impregnated to sterile paper disks (6 mm diameter). Mueller-Hinton Agar (MHA) media was prepared, sterilized and solidified in sterile Petri dishes. The agar plates were incubated at 37oC for 24h in order to check for any contamination. The agar plates showing any microbial growth were discarded and those uncontaminated (no growth) were used in the study. The surface of the agar in each plate was swabbed with a different bacterial strain cultured in nutrient broth. The disks loaded with extract were then carefully placed on the surface of the swabbed agar media and the diameter of the zone of inhibition was measured after 24 h of incubation at 37oC.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Antibacterial activity: The results of the antibacterial activity are given in table 1. The methanolic extracts of M. decora and S. podophyllum were tested against 6 bacterial species. The methanol extract of M. decora (MME) exhibited significant activity against 4 bacterial species. Highest inhibition was noticed in case of K. pneumonia and E. coli (15mm). In case of B. cereus the zone of inhibition was found to be 14mm which was very close to the zone produced by standard drug chloramphenicol (15mm). The activity of MME in case of P. aeruginosa was although lower (10 mm) than the other three species but higher than the antibacterial activity of the standard drug which produced a zone of 9 mm diameter. S. podophyllum possessed a narrow spectrum as compared to M. decora. The methanolic extract of the plant (SME) was most active against S. aureus producing a zone of inhibition of 10 mm. Low activity was observed for B. cereus and P. mirabilis (7 mm) while K. pneumonia, E. coli and P. aeruginosa were found to be insensitive to the plant extract.
Antifungal activity: The methanolic extracts of M. decora and S. podophyllum were also studied for antifungal activity. The clinical isolates of 4 fungal species were used in the study. Both MME and SME exhibited activity only against S. cerevisae where the zone of inhibition was 8.5 mm and 8 mm Antifungal activity was evaluated by a method quite similar respectively. Amphotericin B was used as a standard drug. to the one used to determine the antibacterial activity. 11 The results of the antifungal assay are given in table 2. Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) media was used instead of Mueller-Hinton Agar media and a fungal suspension prepared in normal saline was used for swabbing the surface of the solidified agar media. The diameters of zone of inhibition were calculated after incubation at room temperature for 24h.
Table 1: Antibacterial activity of methanolic extract of M. decora and S. podophyllum on various clinical strains. Bacterial strains K. pneumonia B. cereus S. aureus E. coli P. aeruginosa P. mirabilis Zone of inhibition by MME (mm) 15 14 15 10 Zone of inhibition by SME (mm) 7 10 7 Zone of inhibition by standard drug (mm) 28 15 19.5 20 9 15 MME, Melaleuca decora methanolic extract; SME, Syngonium podophyllum methanolic extract; Standard drug, Chloramphenicol 30µg disk.
Table 2: Antifungal activity of methanolic extract of M. decora and S. podophyllum on various clinical strains. Fungal strains A. flavus A. niger C. albicans S. cerevisae Zone of inhibition by MME (mm) 8.5 Zone of inhibition by SME (mm) 8 Zone of inhibition by standard drug (mm) 23.5 26 28 20 MME, Melaleuca decora methanolic extract; SME, Syngonium podophyllum methanolic extract; Standard drug, Amphotericin B 10µg disk.
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CONCLUSION: The present findings support the importance of the two plants as therapeutic agents. From the results obtained it may be concluded that both plants possess antibacterial and antifungal activities. The microbial strains tested were all of clinical origin so our study was mainly focused on an evaluation from a practical point of view. Further studies on standard strains may give more promising results. Moreover the plants also need to be studied for their biologically active compounds.
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