Phytochemical screening and evaluation of antibacterial, antitubercular activities of Peganum harmala linn., seeds

Abstract

The objective of this research work is to carry out the phytochemical screening and evaluate the antibacterial, antitubercular activities of Peganum harmala Linn., seeds. Due to the development of resistance in the micro- organisms against available drugs there is a need to develop new, potent, fast-acting antibacterial and antitubercular drugs with low toxicity. In this study different extracts of Peganum harmala (Linn) seeds were evaluated for antibacterial and antitubercular activities against different gram-positive, gram-negative bacterial strains and Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Rv using ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and pyrazinamide as standard drugs respectively. Ethyl acetate extract showed significant activity against Streptococuus faecalis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, M. tuberculosis strain H37Rv and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, while this extract was found to show moderate activity against Escherichia coli. Alcoholic extract has showed significant activity against M. tuberculosis strain H37Rv, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, while this extract has shown moderate activity against Bacillus subtilis and Streptococuus faecalis. The ethyl acetate and alcoholic extracts can be considered as a potential candidate for antibacterial and antitubercular activities. The presence of alkaloids, flavonoids in alcoholic extract and alkaloids, steroids, flavonoids in ethyl acetate extract of Peganum harmala (Linn) seeds could be attributed for the antibacterial and antitubercular activities.