Evaluation of Antibacterial Activity of roots of Aralia racemosa

 

Manpreet Kaur* and Harinder Kaur

G.H.G. Khalsa College of Pharmacy, Gurusar Sadhar, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.

Dept. of  Pharmaceutical Sciences, Govt. polytechnic,  Amritsar, Punjab, India

 

ABSTRACT:

Antibacterial activity of aqueous and ethanol  extracts of root of Aralia racemosa was evaluated by cup plate method against bacterial strains such as Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, pseudomonas aeruginosa, E.coli and Micrococcus luteus using ciprofloxacin100µg/well as standard drug . The ethanol extract of root of Aralia racemosa demonstrated a high degree of activity against all the tested bacterial strains except Acinetobacter and Micrococcus luteus; where as the aqueous extract of root showed moderate activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, pseudomonas aeruginosa and E.coli.

     

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

The genus Aralia comprises of more than 50 species in world distributed throughout North America, East Asia, China, Indo-Malaya. The Arabic name of Aralia racemosa is sadah, which refers to a (North America) Indian name, spikenard¹. Aralia racemosa improves stamina and adaptation to stress. The American Indians used Aralia racemosa in various ways for backache, swellings, inflammation and chest pain. It has been used successfully to help shorten the duration of labor. In homeopathy Aralia racemosa is used in ENT allergies².

 

Aralia racemosa is stimulant and diaphoretic with a special affinity for the respiratory organs. It may be given to produce perspiration in the early stages of coughs and colds and to asthmatic patients. In chronic complaints of the uric acid or gouty diathesis and in syphilis, it increases waste, removes morbific products from the system and gives tone to all the organs. As a local application in chronic ulcers and chronic skin diseases it is both stimulant and antiseptic. In foul smelling and acrid leucorrhea it is used as an injection. It acts as a disinfectant. In present study an attempt was made to investigate various extracts of Aralia racemosa for its antibacterial effects as no work has been done for antibacterial activity.

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Collection and extraction:

The roots of Aralia racemosa were purchased from Natural Botanicals Ghaziabad September 2011 and were authenticated by the authority of Botany department, Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana. A voucher specimen no (AR-1) is deposited in the departmental herbarium of G.H.G Khalsa College of Pharmacy, Gurusar Sadhar, Ludhiana. The roots of Aralia racemosa 50g  were dried in shade, finely powdered and subjected to exhaustive extraction with 200ml alcohol using soxhlet apparatus. Solvent was removed under vacuum and concentrated to a semisolid residue. The marc obtained from the above extraction was subjected to maceration with distilled water for 24 hrs. It was than evaporated to dryness to get semisolid residue.

 

 

Table 1: Antibacterial activity of roots of Aralia racemosa

Diameter of the inhibitory zone (mm)
Extracts	Conc. (µg/ml)	E. coli	Pseudomonas aeruginosa	S. aureus	B. subtilis	Acinetobactor	Micrococcus luteus
Ciprofloxacin	100	27	24	23.5	23	15	18
Aqueous extract	300	14.5	14.5	13.4	11.6	-	-
Aqueous  extract	800	20.2	19.8	17.3	20.2	-	-
Alcoholic extract	300	16.3	15.2	11	19.5	-	-
Alcoholic extract	800	21	17	20	20.2	-	-

*All the values are mean of triplicates. No inhibition is denoted by ‘-’.

 

Antibacterial activity:

Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, pseudomonas aeruginosa, E.coli , Micrococcus luteus and Acinetobactor were subcultured from the stock culture 24 hr  prior to the experiment in nutrient agar media and used for study. Stock cultures of all these microorganisms were obtained from S.G.R.D institute of medical sciences Amritsar Punjab. Ciprofloxacin was used as positive control in concentration of 100µg/well. Aqueous and alcoholic extracts of the roots of Aralia racemosa were tested for antibacterial activity by cup plate method.^3-5Nutrient agar media are prepared and sterilized in an autoclave and 10 ml transferred previously sterilised petri-plates. After solidification petri-plates were inoculated with Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, pseudomonas aeruginosa, E.coli, Micrococcus luteus and Acinetobactor under aseptic conditions. Ciprofloxacin was used as standard drug at concentration of 100µg/well. Using sterile borer, four wells were made and 0.1ml of control vehicle (sterile distilled water), test drug (300µg and 800µg) and standard compound (100 µg) were poured aseptically into the wells. They were incubated at 37^οC for 24 hr. The zone of inhibition was measured using a metric rular. Antimicrobial activity of two different concentrations of extracts of Aralia racemosa  have been evaluated in vitro against gram positive and gram negative bacteria (Table 1) that are known to cause infections in humans. As presented in Table 1 the inhibitory effects of the extracts of Aralia racemosa was increased by concentration of extracts. Although both the extracts showed significant inhibitory effect against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E.coli at both concentrations (300 µg/ml and 800 µg/ml) they did not show any activity against Micrococcus luteus and Acinetobacter.

 

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, the aqueous and alcoholic extracts of Aralia racemosa root extracts possess significant inhibitory effect against the tested pathogens. The results obtained were comparable with those of standard drug ciprofloxacin. However both the extracts did not show any inhibitory effect on Micrococcus luteus and Acinetobactor.

 

REFERENCES:

1.       Kong YC, Chen DS. Elucidation of Islamic drugs in Hui Hui Yao Fang: a linguistic and pharmaceutical approach. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 54;1996 :85-102.

2.       Colin P.. Homeopathy and respiratory allergies: a series of 147 cases. Homeopathy 95;(2006)68-72.

3.       Mukherjee KL, Medical Laboratory Technology. Vol. 2. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company; 1988; pp. 616-617.

4.       Spooner DF, Syker G, Nooris JR, Ribbons DW, editors. Methods in Microbiology, Vol.7 London: Academic Press; 1972; pp. 216-219.

5.      Hugo WB, Russell AB. Pharmaceutical microbiology: Black Well Scientific Publication; 1987; 4^th Ed. London pp. 265-270.

 

 

Received on 01.10.2013       Modified on 25.10.2013

Accepted on 28.10.2013      © RJPT All right reserved