Monograph: In vitro efficacy of 30 ethnomedicinal plants used by Indian aborigines against 6 multidrug resistant Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria

ObjectiveTo monitor in vitro antibacterial activities of leaf extracts of 30 common and non-common plants used by aborigines in Kalahandi district, Odisha, against 6 clinically isolated multidrug resistant (MDR) Gram-positive bacteria of 3 genera, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, and Enterococcus.MethodsThe antibiotic sensitivity patterns of 6 bacterial strains were studied with the disk-diffusion method with 17 antibiotics belonging to 8 classes. Monitored plants have ethno-medicinal use and several are used as traditional medicines. Antibacterial properties were studied with the agar-well diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration values of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of plants were determined by the microbroth-dilution method.ResultsEthanolic plant-extracts had the better antibacterial potencies in comparison to their corresponding aqueous extracts. Plants with most conspicuous antibacterial properties in controlling MDR strains of Gram-positive bacteria were aqueous and ethanolic extracts of plants, Ixora coccinea, Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, Polycythaemia rubra, Pongamia pinnata and Syzygium cumini, Carthamus tinctorius, Cucurbita maxima, Murraya koenigii, Leucas aspera, Plumbago indica and Psidium guajava. Ethanolic extracts of most plants had phytochemicals, alkaloids, glycosides, terpenoids, reducing sugars, saponins, tannins, flavonoids and steroids.ConclusionsThese plants could be used further for the isolation of pure compounds to be used as complementary non-microbial antimicrobial medicines.