Anti Microbial Studies on Spirulina platensis

Spirulina plantensis (fam: cyanophyaceae) is a blue green fresh water algae. It is a simple, single-celled alga that thrives in warm alkaline fresh water. It is helical in shape and hence the name spirulina. Spirulina is being developed as the food of the future due to its very high nutritional value. The extracts were then subjected to antibacterial studies using Muller Minton agar and fresh strains of E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus and Ciprofloxacin as the standard drug. Antifungal studies were perform using potato dextrose agar medium and fresh strain of Aspergillus niger and Griseofulvin, as the standard drug cup diffusion method was followed for both the studies. It was found that when compared with standards and among the extracts, the ethanol extract showed a significant antibacterial and antifungal activity.