Antimicrobial property of Datura leaf extract against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from Urethral and Skin Suppurative Infections

Datura stramonium is commonly known as Jimson weed and is widely used in phytomedicine to treat epilepsy, skin ulcers, etc as well as to kill the microbes associated with wound lesions. Antimicrobial activity of ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of leaves and flowers of Datura stramonium was investigated against antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria isolated from pus samples of skin and urethral infections. The crude ethyl acetate extracts of leaves showed good inhibitory effects against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pathogens. The extract was separated by TLC and silica gel column chromatography to fractionate the bioactive constituents. Evaluation of chemical nature of ethyl acetate fractions revealed that the presence of alkaloids, steroids, phenolic compounds, tannins, tripenoids and saponins. The isolated compounds were further screened for antimicrobial activity against MRSA. Bioactive alkaloid fraction showed 86.11% purity by HPTLC was subjected to FTIR analysis. Further chemical characterization of the active fraction was carried out by LC-MS/ESI.