Medicinal Plants - International Journal of Phytomedicines and Related Industries

The ethyl acetate extract, aqueous extract and membrane separation extract from the tubers of Smilax china were investigated for anti-bacterial and anti-fungal activity by agar plate disc-diffusion assay. All the three extracts showed anti-bacterial effects against all Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria and fungi tested. Among anti-bacterial activities of these extract, the ethyl acetate extracts exhibited stronger anti-microbial activity against Gram-positive bacteria as compared to aqueous extract and membrane separation extract showed similar to and even stronger anti-microbial activity than the aqueous extract, which may be that the former could possess higher concentration of the flavonoids and membrane separation extract possess higher concentration of the effective ingredients that prove that it is feasible that aqueous extract was further purified by membrane separation technique.