Antibacterial activity of Mangifera indica L. seeds against some human pathogenic bacterial strains

Antibacterial activity of methanol extract of Mangifera indica L. seeds was done against 41 clinically isolated and 20 standard bacterial strains. Clinical bacterial strains were isolated from different specimens like blood, urine, catheter, stool and pus. Antibacterial activity was done by agar disc diffusion method at two different concentrations (600 and 1200 mu g/disc). Preliminary qualitative phytochemical study was carried out for the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, cardiac glycosides, steroids and saponins. Total phenol content and flavonoid content were also measured. The extract showed potent antibacterial activity against all the clinically isolated bacterial strains and most of the standard bacterial strains which was comparable with that of standard antibiotics studied. Phenols were present in higher amount than flavonoids. The qualitative analysis showed only presence of tannins. It can be stated that the antibacterial activity may be due to the presence of tannin and higher amount of total phenol content. The present study supports the folkloric use of M. indica and it can be an effective potential candidate for the development of new strategies to treat bacterial infections.