Antimicrobial activity of five traditionally used medicinal plants on bacterial infection of urinary tract

Abstract

Urinary tract infection (UTI) has become a serious public health problem worldwide. Antimicrobial resistance of the pathogenic bacteria makes the situation more serious. Medicinal plants used as crude form by the communities have potential effect on this disease. The present study was carried out to investigate the antibacterial activities of five medicinal plants viz. Allium sativum, Cinnamomum verum, Syzygium aromaticum, Terminalia arjuna, Zingiber officinale against five Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) causing bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus. The antimicrobial activity of the plant extracts by agar well diffusion assay and Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) method. The diameter of the zone of inhibition (DZI) were measured. Antioxidant action of five plants was observed by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and 1, 1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity assay. Phytochemical screening was done by following the standard procedure. Among the two extracts used, highest antibacterial activity was recorded with ethanolic extract of Terminalia arjuna on E.coli and least against extracts of Zingiber officinale on P. aeruginosa with DIZ of 3.2 mm and 1.1 mm respectively. MIC values of 100 μg/ml indicated that Z. officinale is more effective on E. coli, K. pneumonia and P. vulgaris than the other plant extracts, but less effective on S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. The presence of high anti-oxidative biomolecules were noted in Z. officinale extracts. Preliminary phytochemical analysis of the plant parts revealed the presence of active compounds such as phenolics, steriods, alkaloids, glycosides, and flavonoids. The results obtained in this analysis clearly demonstrated that the antibacterial activity of selected plant extracts on all UTI causing bacteria is satisfactory and this is due to the presence of anti- oxidative biomolecules or active compounds such as phenolics, steriods, alkaloids, glycosides, and flavonoids. Further research is needed.