EVALUATION OF ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES OF PERSICARIA CHINENSIS LEAVES

The scientific basis of medicinal plants often claimed that the valuable ethnobotanical medicinal-related information was true. Hence, researchers always develop deep interest in finding natural resources like medicinal plants to combat infectious diseases instead of using modern pharmaceutical drugs that can lead to vast antibiotic resistance issues. In this present study, various leaf extracts of Persicaria chinensis (L.) H. Grosswere investigated for their antibacterial and antifungal activities against various Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and fungi by disc diffusion method. The aqueous, chloroform, methanol, and petroleum ether extracts of P. chinensis leaves were prepared by cold maceration technique and preliminary phyto-constituent investigation was carried out on the extracts. The antibacterial and antifungal activities were assessed by measuring the diameter of the zone of inhibition, and the results were compared with standard antibiotics, amoxicillin and fluconazole respectively. All leaf extracts possessed antibacterial and antifungal activity against the selected pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Nevertheless, methanol and aqueous extracts and reference drugs (amoxicillin and fluconazole) showed comparable efficacy in inhibiting certain microbial growths. The zone of inhibition signified antibacterial and antifungal potencies of P. chinensis leaf extracts and it might be due to the presence of secondary metabolites.