Meenakshi Fartyal, Padma Kumar
In recent years, infections have increased to a great extent and antibiotic resistance effects have become an ever-increasing therapeutic problem. Natural products of higher plants are effective in the treatment of infectious diseases, while simultaneously mitigating many of the side effects that are often associated with synthetic antimicrobials. Systematic screening of plant extracts may result in the discovery of novel active compounds. Present work was carried out to assess the antimicrobial activity of N.oleander against some multidrug resistant pathogenic bacteria. Different parts (leaf, stem, flower and root) of N.oleander were collected and dried. These parts were then soxhlet extracted by using standard methods for flavonoids, alkaloids and steroids. Extracts were then tested for antimicrobial activity using ‘Disc Diffusion Assay’. Minimum inhibitory concentration, Minimum bactericidal concentration & Total activity were studied and statistically were analyzed. E.coli, S.aureus & K.pneumonae were found to be the most susceptible organism followed by B.subtilis & A.tumifaciens. Free flavonoid extract of stem showed the best activity against S.aureus (IZ=18mm, MIC= 0.156mg/ml, MBC= 0.078mg/ml, TA=19.23ml/g). Steroids of flowers were best against B.subtilis(IZ=14mm,MIC=0.312mg/ml, MBC= 0.156mg/ml, TA=62.5ml/g), similarly Free flavonoid extract of root were best against B.subtilis (IZ=13mm,MIC=0.312mg/ml, MBC= 0.156mg/ml, TA=3.20ml/g) & E.coli (IZ=12mm,MIC=0.312mg/ml, MBC= 0.156mg/ml, TA=3.20ml/g). The range of MIC & MBC was found to be 1.25-0.156mg/ml & 0.625-0.078mg/ml respectively. Results of the present study reveal that extracts of N.oleander have great antimicrobial potential against tested microorganisms, and may be exploited for future antimicrobial drugs
