EVALUATION OF ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY ON SELECTED BACTERIA AND SCREENING OF SECONDARY METABOLITES OF Avicennia Alba STEM

TLDR: Phytochemi cal studies support the antibacterial activity of methanol, ace tone, alcohol & water solubles of Avicennia alba, which clearly indicates that the active principles of A.alba stem are positive against drug sensitive strains b ut not to the drug resistant strains.

Abstract: Most of the human diseases are mediated by microorganisms. The discovery of antimicrobials provides an increasingly important tool to combat microbial diseases. Improp er usage of antimicrobials results in the developme nt of microbial resistance. Therefore, identification of new antimi crobial compounds is essential. Traditional medicin e still plays an important role in the health care in India and othe r countries. The mangrove ecosystem is a largely un explored source for the potential biologically active secondary metabol ites. Consequently, we set out to screen the stem o f Avicennia alba collected from the Coringa Mangrove Reserve Forest, Kakinada, East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh, India for antibacterial activity. In the present study, the stem extract of Avicennia alba in Hexane, Benzene, Chloroform, Ethylacetate, Methanol, Acetone, Absolute Alcohol & Water were screened for the antibacterial activity by Agar well diffusion method against selected microorganisms, viz, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Klebsi ella pneumonia (drug resistant strains) Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter aerogenes, Clo stridium perfringens & Bacillus subtilis (drug sensitive strains) . The extracts were also screened for secondary meta bolites like flavanoids, alkaloids, saponins, terpenoids, steroids and tanni ns. None of the extracts were found effective again st the tested drug resistant strains irrespective of Gram nature. Whil e, Methanol extract is active against E.aerogenes & Bacillus subtilis and Chloroform, Acetone, Absolute Alcohol & aqueous extracts exhibited only anti E. aerogenes activity. However, Hexane, Benzene & Ethyl acetate solubles does not show any activity on the tested cultures. Phytochemi cal studies support the antibacterial activity of methanol, ace tone, alcohol & water solubles of A.alba . This clearly indicates that the active principles of A.alba stem are positive against drug sensitive strains b ut not to the drug resistant strains.