Asian Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology & Environmental Sciences Paper

SCREENING OF SUCCESSIVE EXTRACTS OF HAMELIA PATENS FOR ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF ENTEROBACTER CLOCAEA, BACILLUS SUBTILIS AND E. COLI

JAFRA BANO, SWAPNA SANTRA AND EKTA MENGHANI

Abstract

Medicinal plant extracts have a great potential against a number of diseases and therefore, they can be used for various therapeutic purposes since ancient time. Hamelia patens Jacq. is generally known as scarlet bush or firebush. It is a perennial shrub or small tree. This plant is also used in folk medicine against a range of ailments. The Hamelia patens plant possesses analgesic, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, febrifuge, refrigerant properties. Firebush is loved and planted as an ornamental almost worldwide in warm, moist areas. The fruit is edible. Firebush is used in herbal medicine to treat athlete’s foot, skin lesions and rash, insect bites, nervous shock, inflammation, rheumatism, headache, asthma, and dysentery. The plant Hamelia patens have antimicrobial activity with various successive extracts of leaf, stem and flower through process of screening. The study and analysis calculate the antimicrobial activities of Hamelia patens. Through the antimicrobial activity of crude extracts of leaf, stem and flower in methanol, Ethyl acetate, Benzene and Hexane respectively were assessed. Moreover, all the extracts showed very good activity against tested pathogen. The total of seven selected bacterial strains were taken for the screening antimicrobial efficacy of the plant viz. Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC- 3160 ), Klebsiella pneumoniae (MTCC- 7299), Enterobacter cloacae (MTCC-8544), Escherichia coli (MTCC-12332 ), Pseudomonas euroginosa (MTCC-2488), and Acinetobacter baumannii (MTCC-6542). The outcome of antimicrobial activity of crude plant extracts dicholormethane (DCM), ethyl acetate, Hexane, chloroform and methanol. The inhibitory activity of the Methanol leaf extract C (75mg/disc) showed maximum antimicrobial efficacy against Enterobacter clocae (Inhibition zone = 19mm, Activity index=0.65) and Bacillus subtilis (Inhibition zone = 17mm, Activity index=0.56). Further in vitro and in vivo studies can be carried out upon clinical isolates of Enterobacter clocae and Bacillus subtilis in order to standardize the inhibitory effect of various plant extract next to these emerging pathogens.