Scientific Research and Essays Vol. 2 (4), 101-104, April 2007          
ISSN 1992-2248 © 2007 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Screening of antibacterial and antioxidant activities of leaves of Eclipta prostrata (L)

Karthikumar, S., Vigneswari, K. and Jegatheesan, K.

¹Department of Biotechnology, Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology, Virudhunagar- 626001, Tamil nadu, India.

²Department of Biotechnology, Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology, Virudhunagar- 626001, Tamil nadu, India.

³Department of Biotechnology, Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology, Virudhunagar- 626001, Tamil nadu, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: skarthikumar@gmail.com. Mobile: 91-9944215859.

Accepted 8 February, 2007

The hexane, ethyl acetate, ethanol and water extract of aerial parts of the Eclipta prostrata were tested for its antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus. The antioxidant properties of those extracts were also investigated. Highest activity of both antibacterial and antioxidant were observed only in ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts, while hexane and water extracts did not show any significant results. The ethanol extract was fractionated by silica gel G 60-120 mesh column chromatography. Only the last three of 8 fractions of the ethanol extract were found to have significant activity only against S. typhi. This result indicates that the fractionated ethanol extract from Eclipta prostrata could be used against S. typhi pathogen.

Key words: Antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity, Eclipta prostrata.