Antimicrobial Potential of Viscum articulum Brm., An Ethnomedicinal Plant

 

Satyendra Garg*, U. K. Patil, Tarani P. Shrivastava,

School of Pharmacy & Research, People’s University, Bhanpur, Bhopal (M. P.) India.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: satyendrapharmacology@gmail.com

 

The whole plant of V. articulatum Brm., which has long been used as a folk medicinal herb, is distributed widely in the South and Southwest of China and India especially in the Himalayan region.  The aim of present study was to assess the anti bacterial activity V. articulatum Brm of Againest the Gram positive and Gram negative The alcoholic extract of the whole plant of Viscum articulatum has shown significant zones of inhibition against all the bacterial strains. The maximum zone of inhibition was seen as 20 mm against E.coli. Whereas chloroform extract showed maximum inhibition effect on Gram positive bacteria and against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

India has a rich tradition of plant-based knowledge on healthcare. A large number of plant products or pastes are used by tribal people of India for the treatment of cuts, wound and burns. The concept of developing drugs from plants in indigenous medicine is much older. In some cases a direct link between a local and biomedical use exists, in other cases the relationship is much more complex. ^[1]

 

Natural products are a source of synthetic and traditional herbal medicine and still remain the prime choice in the health care system. ^[2]Today, traditional medical practice has been recognized by the World health Organization (WHO) as a building block of primary healthcare ^[3] Wounds are physical injuries that result in an opening or breaking of the skin. Proper healing of wounds is essential for the restoration of disrupted anatomical continuity and disturbed functional status of the skin.^[4] It is a product of the integrated response of several cell types to injury. Approximately one-third of all traditional medicines in use are for the treatment of wounds and skin disorders, compared to only 1–3% of modern drugs.^[5] The basic principles of optimal wound healing like minimizing tissue damage, maximizing tissue perfusion and oxygenation, proper nutrition and moist wound healing environment have been recognized for many years. ^[6]

 

Plants have beneficial effects, not only in promoting the healing process of wounds and burns or protecting the skin from fungal and bacterial infection or anti-tumor activity against skin cancer.^[7] Wound healing occurs in three stages: inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. The proliferative phase is characterized by angiogenesis, collagen deposition, granulation tissue formation, epithelialization and wound contraction^.[8]  The plant is mainly used in the treatment of dislocation of bones by the local people of Sikkim and it is also used in the treatment of diseases of blood, ulcer.^[9]

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Collection of Plant Material:

The whole plant Viscum articulatum Brm (Loranthaceae ) was collected in the months of July and August from the lower and upper hill forests (1000ft-6000ft) of  Rhenock area of Sikkim Himalayan region and  whole plant was authenticated by Dr K Gauthman. Plant material were dried in shade and after complete shade drying it was powdered and passed through sieve no 60.(Shown in fig. 1)

 

Extraction:

The dried and powered plant material (700gm) was extracted by continuous hot percolation method in soxhlet extraction apparatus by using three solvents successively with increasing polarity viz. chloroform, ethanol and water. The extracts were concentrated with the help of rotary evaporator.  They were weighed and the percentages of different extractive values were calculated in terms of air-dried weight of plant/ drug material. The color and consistencies were noted.^[10]

Fig 1: Branches of Viscum articulatum plant

 

Fig 2: Statistical data of Antimicrobial activity of various extracts of Viscum articulatum Brm

 

Preliminary phytochemical screening:

The extract was screened for the presence of various constituents employing standard screening test. Conventional protocols for detecting the presence of glycosides, saponins, flavonoids, tannins etc .was used. Several phytoconstituents like flavonoids and glycosides are known to promote wound healing process due to their antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.^[11,12]

 

Antimicrobial activity:

For the antimicrobial activity of the ethanolic, chloroform and aqueous extracts of Viscum articulatum Brm., the cup-plate technique described by Hugo and Russel (1984) was employed.^{[13,14 ]}  

 

Four microbial strains, of which two gram positive and two gram negative stains were taken for the study  . Ciprofloxacin antibiotic was used as standard drug. (table1)

 

Table 1: Test organisms:

 

Statistical Analysis:

The means of wound area measurement and wound breaking strength between groups at different time intervals were compared by using ANOVA followed by Dunnet’s t-test. N=6, values are expressed as Mean ± SEM,

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

In this study, chloroform, ethanolic and aquous extracts of the whole plant were prepared. Phytochemical tests revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavanoids, terpenoids and saponins in these extracts. The antimicrobial activity was performed taking three different extracts..

 

The antimicrobial activity might be one of the most important components of wound healing process. The enhanced wound healing may be due to the inhibition of growth or killing of microorganisms during the process by the drug. It is further supported by the free radical scavenging action of the ethanolic extract of Viscum articulatum Brm.

 

Phytochemical studies revealed the presence of saponins, phyto sterols, phenolic compounds and flavonoids, terpenoids in all the extracts.

 

Table 2: Qualitative Chemical Examination of Various Extracts

( +)  PRESENT, (--) ABSENT

 

Anti microbial study was performed on gram positive and gram negative microorganism with different extracts of plant Viscum articulatum Brm in a concentration of 200µg/ml.

 

Anti biotic resistance is major concern and development of new agent from plants could be useful in meeting the demand for new antimicrobial agents with improved safety and efficacy. ^[15] The results indicated that alcoholic extract of the whole plant of Viscum articulatum  has shown significant zones of inhibition against all the bacterial strains. The maximum zone of inhibition was seen as 20 mm against E.coli. Whereas chloroform extract showed maximum inhibition effect on Gram positive bacteria and against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

 

Table 3: Antimicrobial activity of various extracts of Viscum articulatum Brm

Sl. No.	Zones of inhibition  in mm at conc. 200 µg/ ml
	Treatment	Staphylococcus aureus NCTC-8530	Staphylococcus aureus ML-151	Pseudomonas aeruginosa	Escherichia coli
1	Control (DMF)	R	R	3	R
2	Chloroform	18	16	19	17
3	Alcohol	12	9	16	20
4	Water	9	12	8	13
5	Standard	22	18	23	22

Diameter of cup –8 mm; Standard drug –Ciprofloxacin; DMF - Dimethyl formamide; R – Resistance

 

 

CONCLUSION:

Natural products have a vital role in primary health care system. On the basis of the ethno-medicinal use, it had been chosen to incorporate the whole plant of Viscum articulatum Brm for the present research work to evaluate the Anti microbial potential. The phytochemical tests revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavanoids, terpenoids and saponins in the chloroform, ethanol and water extracts. Anti-microbial activity of the plant revealed the high efficacy of the ethanolic extract. From the present study it can be concluded that antimicrobial and antioxidant effects are the most important parameters of wound healing activity of drugs. Flavonoids enriched ethanolic extract may be responsible for the wound healing activity. Further studies are required to isolate pure active constituents to understand the complete mechanism of wound healing potential of the plant Viscum articulatum Brm.      

 

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Received on 21.03.2013          Modified on 14.04.2013

Accepted on 19.04.2013         © RJPT All right reserved