PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDY AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES OF EXTRACTS AND ITS DERIVED FRACTIONS OBTAINED FROM BERBERIS VULGARIS L. AND STELLARIA MEDIA L. LEAVES

This study was carried out with an objective to investigate the antibacterial and antifungal potential of leaves of Stellaria media Linn. and Berberis vulgaris Linn. In the present study, the antimicrobial activities of extracts and its derived fractions obtained from the leaves of B. vulgaris, and S. media were evaluated against pathogens by using agar well diffusion method. The extracts and fractions (10 mu g/ml) of selected plants were tested against single Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, six Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumonia, Shigella dysenteriae and three fungal pathogens Fusarium solani, Alternaria alternata, Candida albicans. Zone of inhibition of extracts/fractions were compared with the standards drug used streptomycin for antibacterial activity and nystatin for antifungal activity. The results showed that crude extract and fractions of S. media leaves gave good inhibitions ranging from 15 mm to 17.5 mm against tested bacteria and zone of inhibitions ranging from 6.8 mm to 16.5 mm against fungal pathogens. While extracts/fractions derived from the leaves of our second selected plant B. vulgaris showed no remarkable action against all tested microbes except P. aeruginosa against which plant showed good activities. The phytochemical investigation of our research plants showed that alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, phenol, terpenoids and glycosides groups of chemicals are present in our selected plants. The antimicrobial activities can be correlated with the phytochemicals present in our research plants. Hence, these plants can be used to discover bioactive natural products; all these preliminary reports form a primary platform for further phytochemical and pharmacological studies.