Anti-microbial activity of different solvent extracts of dried flowers of Aegle marmelos

Abstract

Aegle marmelos has been used to treat various illnesses of human beings in traditional and folk medicine for thousands of years. The aim of the present study is to validate the in vitro antibacterial activity of different extracts of dried flowers of A. marmelos. Antibacterial activity of aqueous, methanol, acetone and hexane extracts from flowers of A. marmelos was evaluated against two clinically important pathogenic bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) using agar well diffusion method and broth dilution method. Among the extracts tested, the highest zone of inhibition against both bacterial strains was exhibited by aqueous extract. All the extracts exhibited a significant antibacterial activity against E. coli compared to respective negative control. Hexane extract did not exhibit a significant antibacterial activity against S. aureus, while all the other extracts exhibited a significant activity compared to respective negative control. Gentamycin was used as the positive control and the antibacterial-activity exhibited by the test extracts was not comparable to that of Gentamycin. The minimum inhibitory concentrations confirmed the results obtained by agar diffusion method. The present study indicated the ability of the flower extracts of A. marmelos to inhibit the growth of both Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria, which is an indication of the broad spectrum antibacterial activity. Thus flower of A. marmelos could be a potential source for the development of novel antibacterial agents.