ANTIBACTERIAL, ANTIFUNGAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF ANDROGRAPHIS PANICULATA NEES. LEAVES

Andrographis paniculata Nees. is an important medicinal plant in India which is used in traditional medicine. Although, its antibacterial property has been shown by some researchers, there are very few studies showing its antioxidant activity and there are no reports of its antifungal activity against dermatophytes. So, in this study we evaluate the antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant activities of A. paniculata leaves in different solvent extracts. A. paniculata leaves were extracted with chloroform, hexane, methanol, ethanol and water separately and phenol and flavonoid contents were estimated in these extracts. The antibacterial and antifungal activity studies were carried out by using disc diffusion method and mycelial dry weight method respectively. Ferrous reducing antioxidant power assay, 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity, lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity and superoxide scavenging activity were used for in vitro antioxidant activity studies. A. panicualta ethanol leaf extract showed the highest phenol and flavonoid contents of 64.82 mg/g and 0.87 mg/g respectively. The highest antibacterial activity was recorded in the ethanol extract with Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) values of 0.75 mg/ml for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 1.0 mg/ml for Staphylococcus aureus. MIC values of 1.75 mg/ml and 3.0 mg/ml were recorded for Epidermophyton floccosum and Trichophyton rubrum in ethanol extract. Antioxidant activity was more in ethanol extract, which showed Inhibitory Concentration (IC₅₀) values of 0.5 mg/ml, 0.1 mg/ml and 0.9 mg/ml for DPPH scavenging activity, lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity and superoxide scavenging activity respectively. The result indicates that ethanolic leaf extract of A. paniculata shows potent antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant activities.24