Antimicrobial Activity of Diospyros Malabarica (Desr.) Kostel., Using Different Solvent Extracts: An in Vitro Study

Abstract

The present study was conducted in four different solvent extracts of leaves of Diospyros malabarica (Desr.) Kostel. (Ebenaceae) and were screened against reference cultures, clinical isolates and fungal strains under in vitro condition. Among the four solvent extracts of D. malabarica tested against selected reference cultures, ethyl acetate extract was found to exhibit the highest activity (24 mm) against P. aeruginosa followed by a second higher activity (13 mm) by ethyl acetate, methanol and aqueous extracts against P. aeruginosa, Yersinia enterocolitica and Staphylococcus aureus. Methanol extract was found to inhibit the activity of maximum number of reference microbes. In the case of clinical isolates, aqueous extract of D. malabarica was found to show higher activity (13 mm) against ESBL Klebsiella (ICMR-6) followed by a second higher activity using methanol extract of D. malabarica (12 mm) against ESBL Klebsiella (ICMR-6) whereas ethyl acetate extract did not show any activity. Streptomycin was used as the positive control. Six fungal pathogens were tested for minimum inhibitory concentration. Fluconazole was used as reference. Based on the antimicrobial activity, crude extracts were analyzed for GC-MS to find out the presence of broad range of alkaloids.

Keywords: Antimicrobial activity, Diospyros malabarica , In vitro study, Minimum inhibitory concentration