Preliminary study on the antimicrobial activity of Enicostemma littorale using different solvents

Objective: To study the antimicrobial activity of Enicostemma littorale (E. littorale) using different solvents. Methods: Chloroform, methanol and acetone extracts of different parts of E. littorale (leaf, stem and root) were evaluated for antimicrobial activity using disc diffusion method against some gram-negative species such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pnemoniae, Pseudomonas acruginosa, Salmonella typhi and gram-positive species Staphylococcus (wrens, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis and two fugal species viz., Aspergillus fumigates and Aspergillus flavus. Results: The chloroform extracts showed the highest antibacterial activity. Among leaf, stein and root extracts, the stem extracts showed maximum antibacterial activity. All of the used extracts had 110 significant antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigates and Aspergillus flavor. The chloroform stem extract showed highest activity (about 20 mm inhibition zone) against Bacillus subtilis (at 500 mg/mL) followed by the methanolic stern extract which showed highest activity against the same organism. The lowest antibacterial activity was observed by the acetone leaf extract (about 8 mm inhibition zone) against Escherichia coli. Conclusions: The findings of the study indicate littorale could also be a new source for antibiotics discovery.