Antimicrobial activity of medicinal plant extracts on gram negative bacteria

Abstract

Various types of antibacterial substances are present in higher plants. Plant derived medicines have made significant contributions towards human health and plants and are a great source of novel drug compounds. Successive isolation of botanical compounds from plant material is largely dependent on the type of solvent used in the extraction procedure. Sensitivity to chemical substances vary from one strain of microorganisms to other. The plant extracts showing antibacterial activity can be further subjected to isolation of therapeutic antimicrobials and can carry out further pharmacological evaluation.rnIn the present investigation, the active leaf extract of six medicinally important plants obtained by aqueous and solvent extraction was tested against three bacterial organisms E coli, Pseudomonas and Klebsiella. The aqueous lemon leaf extracts against E. coli showed a good inhibitory response. In Klebsiella the best antimicrobial activity was observed with Eucalyptus leaf ethanol extracts. Pseudomonas showed resistance to all the solvents except to Tulsi leaf ethanol extracts