Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Among the Acalypha species, Acalypha indica L. is predominantly one of the herbs in waste lands throughout the plains of India. The leaves, root, stem and flowers are used in traditional medicine. In the present investigation, the antibacterial activity of A. indica by preliminary antibiotic assay screening was carried out. Ethylacetate, hexane and methanol extracts from the leaves, stem and roots of A. indica were investigated for their antibacterial activity against three strains of human pathogenic bacteria viz., Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Ethylacetate extracts of leaves and roots appeared to be quite promising due to their capacity to inhibit the growth of all the three selected bacterial species. Hexane extracts of leaves, stem and root showed moderate activity. These promising results in relation with antimicrobial activity in vitro open the way for complementary investigation in order to identify and purify the active compounds. In vitro antimicrobial screening methods could provide the needed preliminary observations necessary to select among crude extracts, those with potentially useful properties for further chemical and pharmacological investigations.

Key words: Medicinal plant, Acalypha indica, endophytic fungi, antimicrobial activity, pathogenic bacteria.