Comparative Antibacterial Activity of Fruit Extracts of Emblica officinalis Gaertn. Against Gram Positive versus Gram Negative Bacteria

Lincy Sara Varghese¹, Merin Ann Ninan², Neena Alex², Swetha Soman² and Simi Jacob²

¹Department of Microbiology, Bishop Kurialacherry College for Women, Amalagiri, Kottayam, India ²Department of Botany, Bishop Kurialacherry College for Women, Amalagiri, Kottayam, India.

Abstract: Emblica officinalis Gaertn. is the most celebrated plant in the Indian traditional system of unani and ayurvedic medicine. The present study was carried out to assess quantitatively, the in vitro antibacterial activity of aqueous, ethanolic and acetone extracts of fruits of Emblica officinalis against gram positive versus gram negative bacteria employing Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli, respectively. All the extracts exhibited significant antibacterial activity, more against S. aureus than E. coli. Among the extracts, acetone extract maximally inhibited the growth of S. aureus and E. coli at minimum concentration of the extract (0.1 µg and 1.0 µg, respectively). MIC for ethanol and aqueous extracts were 0.3 and 1.0 µg and 1.5 and 6.0 µg, respectively, for S. aureus and E. coli. It is concluded from the present study that E. officinalis is more inhibitory to gram positive than the gram negative bacteria.

Keywords: Emblica officinalis; antibacterial assay; well diffusion; fruit extract; S. aureu;, E. coli

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