Evaluation of antimicrobial efficacy of methanolic extract of Cocculus hirsutus (L.) Diels

Abstract

Context: The persistent increase in the number of antibiotic resistant strains of microorganisms has led to the development of more potent but more expensive antibiotics. Synthetic drugs are mostly associated with side effects and are generally costly, hence are not affordable to economically poor class of the society when longâ€term treatment is required, thus interest has been developed in the use of herbal medicines which have been reported to have either very little or no side effects. Aims: Present work was carried out to assess the antimicrobial activity of crude methanolic extract of Cocculus hirsutus against some multidrug resistant pathogenic bacteria. Materials and Methods: Different plant parts of C. hirsutus were collected and air dried and soxhlet extracted using methanol as solvent. These extracts were then tested for antimicrobial activity using agarâ€well diffusion method. Inhibition zone, activity index, minimum inhibitory concentration were also calculated. Statistical Analysis: Mean value and standard deviation were calculated for each test bacteria and fungus. Data were analysed by one–way ANOVA and P values were considered significant at P < 0.05. Results: Maximum Zone of inhibition was observed in the callus extracts against Staphylococcus epidermidis (3.9 ± 0.56 mm) amongst the bacteria species and against Phanerochaete chrysosporium (2.5 ± 0.63 mm) amongst the fungal species. Methanolic extracts of leaf and stem showed varied
activity with a different strain of bacteria and fungi. Methanolic extract of leaf and stem showed maximum inhibition zone against
Micromonospora sp. bacterial strain. In this study, methanolic extract of callus sample showed highest promising minimal inhibitory concentration of 61.1 μg/ml in S. epidermidis. Conclusion: Results of the present study reveal that methanolic extracts of C. hirsutus are showing great antimicrobial potential against tested microorganisms and may be exploited for future antimicrobial drugs.

Key words: Activity index, Cocculus hirsutus, inhibition zone, methanolic extract, minimum inhibitory concentration