Abstract:
Plants harbour a vast variety of pharmacologically active compounds, including cancer drugs, cardiac glycosides, antioxidants, and antimicrobials. Owing to the emergence of drug-resistant microbes, the interest of biomedical scientists in medicinal plants has resurged. Terminalia arjuna is an admired medicinal plant. The bark decoctions of the plant are widely used for washing cutaneous wounds and ulcers. Therefore, we hypothesised that the plant must possess some antimicrobials. In the current study, we conducted the phytochemical evaluation of the volatile extract from T. arjuna bark and then assessed the antimicrobial activity the extract against different medically important bacteria. Most of the organisms included in the study were extensively-drug resistant. The phytochemical analysis was done via gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy and the antibacterial potential was assessed through agar-well method. A total of 32 constituents were identified, of which Furfural (16.11%), Isoeugenol (9.99%), p-Ethylguaiacol (9.97%), α-Cadinol (9.57%), and Estragole (9.47%) were most copious. Among all the microbes tested, the extract hampered the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Klebsiella pneumoniae most effectually. At the maximum dose of 34mg, the zones of inhibition in the lawns of these organisms measured 2.20cm, 2.23cm, and 2.16cm, respectively. Additionally, the antioxidative propensity of the extract was also assessed via 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate assay, keeping ascorbic acid as the standard. The extract displayed a powerful radical scavenging activity. Finally, in order to have a rudimentary idea of extract’s cytotoxicity, it effect on the expression level of a housekeeping gene, Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, was studied. The extract did not perturb the normal transcription of the gene.
