STUDY OF ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF SOLVENT EXTRACTS OF LEAVES OF LANTANA CAMARA

Sonia Ruhela*, Vandana Shrivastava and Abhishek Mathur

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants are gaining global attention owing to the fact that the herbal drugs are cost effective, easily available and with negligible side effects. The beneficial effects of the medicinal plants in health care can be well judged from the WHO estimate that around 80% of the world population uses them in some form or the other. It is important to note that homeopathy and modern medicine have their roots in medicinal plants. In the present investigation, different polar (aqueous and methanolic) and non polar (hexane) solvent extracts of leaves of Lantana camara at 250μg/ml were investigated for antimicrobial potential against different microbial strains viz. Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis. The results showed that methanolic and aqueous extracts have significant antimicrobial activity in comparison to that of hexane extracts. Amongst all these extracts, methanolic extract had significant antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis (45 mm) and Bacillus licheniformis (50 mm) while aqueous extract was found to have antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (43 mm) while hexane extract was found to have no antibacterial activity against all the microbes studied. The Phytochemical screening results of the aqueous and methanolic extracts of the leaves of the plant showed the presence of tannins, steroids, saponin, glycosides and reducing sugars while alkaloids and flavanoids were found to be absent.

Keywords: Lantana camara, leaves, antimicrobial activity, polar and non polar solvent extracts.