Rajesh NG and Archana DJ
The aim of the present study was to validate the traditional claims of selected botanicals such as as Amorphophyllus sylvaticus, Andrographis paniculata, Corallocarpus epigaeus, Dioscorea bulbifera (L), Dioscorea oppositifolia (L), Dioscorea pentaphylla (L), Dioscorea hispida (Dennst), Enicostema axillare (Lam Raynal), Gloriosa superba (L) and Morinda citrifolia (L) as possible inhibitors of Mycobacterial strains. Different solvent extracts along with flavonoid and alkaloid fractions of the selected ten medicinal plants were evaluated for their antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis (NCIM 5138) and Mycobacterium phlei (NCIM 2240). The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were calculated for determining the efficacy of the selected botanicals. As a measure of quality control, High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) fingerprint of flavonoids and alkaloids of the selected plants were also developed and the Rf values of individual samples were recorded. Amongst the tested plants only Andrographis paniculata, Morinda citrifolia, and Enicostema axillare were observed to be effective growth inhibitors of selected less virulent Mycobacterium strains, however the chloroform extract of A. paniculata was observed to be most effective growth inhibitor of M. smegmatis (MIC=10 mg/ml) and M. phlei (MIC=10 mg/ml). The results of the present study revealed that the botanicals like Andrographis paniculata, Morinda citrifolia, and Enicostema axillare can be considered as an important resource for the identification of novel leads against Mycobacterial strains, which perhaps can be further explored for the management of multi drug resistance in treating tuberculosis.