Antimicrobial and radical scavenging effects of alkaloid extracts from Rhizophora mucronata

During the last few decades, a substantial body of research has been directed toward the free-radical scavenging activity. Inflammation reactions and other cell damage frequently begin with oxidative stress, over-production of reactive oxygen species, and development of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Rhizophora mucronata is a mangrove species that belongs to Rhizophoraceae family and widely occurs on the south-east coast of India. Due to evidently inadequate scientific evaluation of this species, our present investigation was focused on the isolation and quantification of alkaloid-rich extracts of R. mucronata and in vitro estimation of their free-radical scavenging potential. As a result, it was established that the alkaloid-rich extracts contain ajmalicine, vindoline, catharanthine, and serpentine bioactive components. Antimicrobial activity tests showed maximum zone of inhibition (19.56 +/- 0.19) in Staphylococcus aureus in comparison to other bacteria isolated from diabetic foot ulcer. The results obtained in the present study indicate that alkaloid-rich fraction of R. mucronata is a high-quality source of natural antibacterial and antioxidant formulations.