Evaluation of therapeutical potential of some drug plants by drug efficacy test in vitro

ABSTRACT

Present paper deals with the study of therapeutical potential of aqueous extract of leaves, seeds and stem bark of certain drug plants like Ocimum sanctum, Piper nigrum and Ficus religiosa against certain bactcrial species i.e., Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis separately in vitro in terms of inhibitory effect. A treatment of combined mixture of all the three extracts at different ratios i.e., 1 1 1, 1 1 2, 1 2 1 and 2 1 1 of O. sanctum, P. nigrum and F. religiosa was also done to find out variability of potency in vitro. Results revealed that maximum inhibition zone was recorded against extract of O. sanctum against both bacterial species [E. coli and B. subtilis] followed by P. nigrum and F. religiosa. A trend of enhancement of therapeutic potency [efficacy] was noted with an increase of amount of drug extract [in terms of ml.] and showed positive line of correlation with unit of drug extract and efficacy. The mixture of different ratios of O. sunctum, P. nigrum and F. religiosa showed maximum drug efficacy against both bacterial species at ratio of 1 2 1 [where 02 for P. nigrum] and 2 1 1 [where 2 for O. sanctum. Minimum drug efficacy was recorded at ratio 1 1 1. The treatment of bacterial strains with combined mixture showed better efficacy in both species as compared with separate treatment in general. The compound extract treatments were much encouraging and have given a new direction in the field of herbal therapeutics for the researchers to work in this area