Antimicrobial Investigation of Leaves of Barringtonia acutangula Linn

Methanolic and aqueous extracts of the leaves of Barringtonia acutangula Linn. belonging to the family Barringtoniaceae, commonly known as Hinjal, were screened for their antibacterial activity against some selected organisms causing urinary and gastrointestinal tract infection, fish-virulent pathogens, human and plant pathogenic fungi. The methanolic extract, which exhibited potent antimicrobial activity, was subjected to high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC). Chromatography of the methanolic extract was carried out with an acetone-hexane (4:6) solvent system. HPTLC fingerprinting patterns were developed at three different wave lengths viz. 254, 366 and 650 nm. Antimicrobial activity was carried out against selected bacterial and fungal strains by a disc diffusion assay method at a concentration of 1000 μg/ml and minimum inhibitory concentration values were calculated by a two-fold serial dilution method at a concentration range of 7.8-1000 μg/ml. The yield (%) of methanolic and aqueous extracts was found to be 12.6 and 16.1% (w/w), respectively for the air-dried plant leaves. Antimicrobial screening revealed that the extract showed potent activity against bacterial and fungal strains, namely Enterococcus faecalis (22.9 ± 0.23 mm, MIC 31.25 μg/ml), Aspergillus niger (27.2 ± 0.15 mm, MIC 62.5 μg/ml) and Candida albicans (23.3 ± 0.87 mm, MIC 31.25 μg/ml). _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________