Abstract

EVALUATION OF ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIHELMINTHIC ACTIVITY OF POLYHERBAL GEL

Swetha Rani Boddupally*, Vinitha Edula and Malothu Nagulu

Abstract

One half of deaths worldwide is due to infectious diseases and is leading to mortality and morbidity mainly in immune-compromised patients. The main existing problems are multi drug resistance and scarcity of novel antibiotics. This adds urgency for the development of novel, effective and affordable medicines that act against pathogens without causing any adverse effects to the host. Present investigation is carried out on following herbal extracts- Azadirachta indica (Leaves), Cinnamomum zeylanicum (bark) and menthe longifolia (Leaves). The aim of the present study is to formulate and evaluate antibacterial and antihelminthic activity of polyherbal topical gel formulation. The prepared polyherbal gels was subjected for antibacterial assay using both gram positive and gram negative bacterial strains through disc diffusion method; antihelmintic activity with the determination of paralysis and death time using earthworms. The zone of inhibition produced by azithromycin was between 19 to 25 mm and by the poly herbal formulations PF1 and PF2 is between 8 to 18 mm and 14 to 29mm respectively. PF2 gel caused paralysis at 6.16±1.94 min and death at 37±3.68 min, while albendazole caused paralysis and death at 11.5±1.64 min and 44±3.52 min respectively. The above results confirmed antibacterial and antihelmintic activities of polyherbal gel therefore it may be processed for further research to find out the underlying mechanism involved.

Keywords: Multi- drug resistance, Immune- compromised, Antibacterial activity, Antihelminthic activity, Disc diffusion method.