title: Antibacterial potential of Calotropis procera (flower) extract against various pathogens.
abstract: Increased bacterial resistance towards commonly used antibiotics has become a debated issue all over the world in a last few decades. Due to this, consumer demand towards natural anti-microbial agents is increasing day by day. Natural anti-microbial agents have gained enormous attention as an alternative therapeutic agent in pharmaceutical industry. Current study is an effort to explore and identify a bactericidal potential of various solvent extracts of Calotropis procera flower. Flowers of C. procera were extracted with hexane, butanol, ethyl acetate and aqua to evaluate the antibacterial activity by agar well diffusion method against the various human pathogens. The microorganisms used in this study includes Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli (O157:H7), Micrococcus luteus KIBGE-IB20 (Gen Bank accession: JQ250612) and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) KIBGE-IB23 (Gen Bank accession: KC465400). Zones of inhibition were observed against all four pathogenic strains. Fraction soluble in hexane showed broad spectrum of inhibition against all the studied pathogens. However, fractions soluble in ethyl acetate inhibited the growth of E. coli, MRSA, and M. luteus. In case of butanol and aqueous extracts only growth of M. luteus was inhibited. Results revealed that the flower extracts of C. procera have a potential to be used as an antibacterial agent against these pathogenic organisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Abid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: The Karachi Institute of Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering (KIBGE), University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Asma
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ansari
authors.affiliation: The Karachi Institute of Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering (KIBGE), University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Shah Ali Ul
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Qader
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mumtaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Sumayya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saied
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Tabassum
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mahboob
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D031107:Calotropis / Q000737:chemistry; D052978:Disk Diffusion Antimicrobial Tests; D035264:Flowers; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012997:Solvents