Abstract

PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING, ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES ON THE AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF THE WHOLE PLANT OF CATHARANTHUS ROSEUS

R. Nirmala*, Dr. R. Nepolean, A. Jayavalll and N. Sangeetha

Abstract

India is one of the richest countries in the world with regard to diversity of medicinal plant. There are a wide variety of medicinal plants having various pharmacological activity suchas Antispasmodic, Antidiabetes, Antirheumatics, Anthelmintics, Antihypertensives, Antimalarials, Antifungal, Antidiuretics, Antidepressants, etc., Catharanthus roseus is an evergreen shrub herb belong to the family Apocynaceae which is also known as Vinca rosea. The extracts of Vinca have demonstrated significant anticancer activity against numerous cell types. Many scientists investigated and reported that Catharanthus roseus widely employed for medicinal purposes. In our project by using aqueous extract of the whole plant of Catharanthus roseus were studied by using phytochemical investigation and determine their antimicrobial activity against selective pathogens by using Kirby-Bauer agar well diffusion assay method. Fractions showed higher inhibitory effect against the pathogenic such as Staphylococcus, Enterobacter, Streptococcus, Bacillus subtilis, E.coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella Para thyphi, Candida albicans and A.niger. Since this organism is reported to the major pathogen and resistance towards the most antibiotic and hence receives special attention from the researchers. Gentamycin is used as a standard.

Keywords: Catharanthus roseus, phytochemical investigations, antimicrobial and antifungal activity, Kirby-Bauer agar well diffusion assay method.