Original article In vitro study of antimicrobial activity of Tinosporacordifolia (Thunb.) Miers plant extracts against selected clinical isolates

Abstract

The present investigation was aimed to study the antimicrobial potential of Tinospora cordifolia (Thunb.) Miers commonly known as "Giloy" which is used by the herbal practitioners for curing several ailments. The antimicrobial potential was explored by using solvent extracts of T. cordifolia stem aga inst clinical pa thogenic isola tes, i.e., S tap hyloco ccu s a ure us, Ba cillus ce reu s, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Yersinia pestis. Extraction was carried out by cold percolation method, using various solvents, viz., chloroform, acetone, methanol and water. Among all, the chloroform and acetone extracts of T. cordifolia showed maximum activity against S. aureus (18.22 mm at 4 mg/ml). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of solvent extract of T. cordifolia was 6 mg in case of S. aureus. It was found that extremely small quantity of crude extract of T. cordifolia was sufficient to inhibit the growth of pathogenic microbes and it was quite comparable to the positive control used in many cases. These encouraging results can be taken further to purify and characterize the plant extracts and to check their antimicrobial activity against the pathogenic bacteria so as to utilize the pharmacological potential of the plant extract at higher scale after extensive R & D efforts.