title: Microbial evaluation of Limnophila rugosa Roth. (Merr) leaf.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Limphonia rugosa Roth. (Merr.), family-Scrophulariaceae is considered as a botanical source of classical Ayurvedic drug Bhringaraja by the traditional practitioners of Odisha and is being used for the management of various disorders.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the antimicrobial activity of leaf of L. rugosa.
  
  
  METHODS
  Methanol extract of L. rugosa leaf (LRLM) has been studied, at various (5, 25, 50, 100, 250 μg/ml) dilutions, against medically important human pathogenic bacteria (two Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and two Gram-negative-Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and two fungal strains (Aspergillus niger, A. clavatus, Candida albicans) by using the agar disc diffusion method. A zone of inhibition of extract was compared with that of different standards such as ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and chloramphenicol for antibacterial activity and nystatin and griseofulvin for antifungal activity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the LRLM increased linear with the increase in concentration of extracts. When compared with standard drugs, the results revealed that, for bacterial activity S. pyogenes and S. aureus were more sensitive and in fungal activity C. albicans was more inhibited. The range of growth inhibition zone for all the sensitive bacteria was 11-20 mm and 13-19 mm for fungal strains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Methanolic extract of L. rugosa leaf is having antibacterial and antifungal activities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dravyaguna, Institute for Postgraduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Rabinarayan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Acharya
authors.affiliation: Department of Dravyaguna, Institute for Postgraduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Ridhhish H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Padiya
authors.affiliation: Department of Dravyaguna, Institute for Postgraduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Esha D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy Laboratory, Institute for Postgraduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Harisha
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry Laboratory, Institute for Postgraduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Vinay J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Shukla
keywords: Antifungal activity; Bhringaraja; Gandhamardan hills; Limnophila rugosa leaf; in vitro antibacterial activity; microbial load