M. MANJULA, V. INDIRA AND P. DHASARATHAN
Abstract
Nature has provided a complete store house of remedies to cure all ailments of mankind. The traditional system of medicine Ayurvecla, and Unani are based on the experiment in their use of plant product in amelioration of common di,ieases. Extracts of Achyranthes aspera have been screened for antibacterial activity against various pathogenic strains such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Citrobacter sp, Bacillus subtil: anc-I Micrococcus sp using disc diffusion and well plate method. Phytochemical characterisation of Achyro nthes aspera extracts was done by thin layer chromatography (TLC) techniques and other phytochemicai analyses. It was found that extracts of Achyranthes aspera shows the maximum inhibition of E. coli (17 n-Irn) followed by Pseudomonas sp (14 mm), Citrobacter sp (12 mm), Bacillus sp (12 mm) and Micrococcus sp (12 mm). Achyranthes aspera shows predominant inhibition against gram negative bacteria at a higher concentration of 50pg/mL. In the well plate method the inhibition zone ranges from to19 mm against pathogenic strains thus by increasing the concentration of extract. From the TLC analysis it shows that formation of colour and the RF value indicate the presence of different phytochemicals in the sample. The samples of Achyranthes aspera were found to contain alkaloids and tannins.