Antimicrobial and Anti-inflammatory Activities of Bark of Four Plant Species from Indian Origin

The present study was designed to investigate antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities of four plant species from Indian origin. The antimicrobial activity of petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl-acetate and methanol extracts of barks of Acacia nilotica, Berberis chitria, Terminalia paniculata and Madhuca longifolia were tested against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis using agar well diffusion and micro dilution assays. In the well diffusion assay, 27 out of the 64 extracts showed good activity. Significant activity was observed in the micro dilution assay with all extracts. Highest activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was observed in the ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of Berberis chitria with minimum inhibitory concentration values of 5.5 and 6.5 mg/ml, respectively. Methanolic extracts of Berberis chitria and Terminalia paniculata showed significant inhibitory effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis with minimum inhibitory concentration values 3.25 and 3.5 mg/ml. The effects of the plant extract were compared with those of Chloromphenicol and Streptomycin. For the investigation of anti-inflammatory activity of the methanol extracts of the selected plants, carrageenan induced rat hind paw edema model was employed. All the selected plant extracts exhibited significant, dose-dependent anti-inflammatory activity and produced a significant inhibition of carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats at the end of 3 h, which was comparable to the standard drug, indomethacin.