Antibacterial Activity of Aqueous Extract and the Boiled Steam of Atalantia Ceylanica Leaves

Abstract

The in vitro antibacterial activity of Atalantia ceylanica (arn.) oliver. leaves were tested qualitatively against selected four bacterial strains with the agar dilution method at the Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurveda University, Gampaha, Sri Lanka. Medicinal flora is used heavily now a day to treat various diseases. Nevertheless, the scientific studies to find their pharmacological values is limited. Thus, the study was arranged to fill the gap to a certain extent to harness natural resources effectively in health. Inhalation of the steam of boiled leaves of Atalantia ceylanica is used commonly by villagers to cure respiratory ailment such as influenza. Etiologies of influenza could be bacterial or viral. The study was setup to screen the antibacterial properties of Atalantia leaves.Leaves of Atalantia were boiled and both steam as well as aqueous extract was used directly and separately with Mueller-Hinton agar to prepare the plates. Possible respiratory pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus were inoculated separately into the pates which contain the neat concentration of phytochemicals. Bacteria were spread, and plates were incubated. For the control, the plates which were prepared with distilled water and Mueller-Hinton agar in place of leaf extract were used. Even after the duplicated experiment, no strain was found to be inhibited in the test plates, which indicate that the neat concentration of the raw chemical compound of particular leaves has no inhibitory action on tested strains. As the respiratory infection is not only caused by bacteria but also by viruses, perhaps phytochemicals might have possessed antiviral as well as antibacterial properties on organisms other than the tested strains. Occasionally, the chemicals of the particular plant leaves may contain anti-inflammatory properties, which cure the respiratory symptoms.