Abstract

INVITRO ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIBACTERIAL STUDIES ON ENICOSTEMMA LITTORALE FLOWER EXTRACT

Lavanya B.* and Deepa Philip C.

Abstract

Enicostemma littorale is a glabrous perennial herb belongs to the family Gentianaceae. It is traditionally used as antidiabetic, urinary astringent, antiperiodic, anti-inflammatory, laxative and carminative agent. It possesses antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiedematologinic, antitumour activities. The objective of the present study was to evaluate antioxidant and antibacterial activity from the flower extract of E. littorale. In vitro antioxidant activity was evaluated from aqueous, methanol, ethanol, petroleum ether and chloroform flower extracts by studying 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity using the standard procedure. The antibacterial activity was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa of different concentrations (10mg/ml, 20 mg/ml & 30 mg/ml) of ethanolic flower extract of Enicostemma littorale. The ethanolic flower extract of E.littorale showed significant antioxidant activity and petroleum ether extract showed least radical scavenging activity. The bacterial strains showed maximum zone of inhibition at 30 mg/ml of ethanolic flower extract. It can be concluded that E. littorale flower extract can be used as a potent source of natural antioxidant and thus could prevent many free radical mediated diseases.

Keywords: Enicostemma littorale, flower extract, antioxidant activity, antibacterial activity.