An in-vitro Study on Antibacterial Activity of Some Medicinal Herbs of Assam, India

Local herbs with medicinal properties have played an important role in curing various ailments among the indigenous communities. Many of these plants have gained recognition and have been developed into drugs by pharmaceutical companies. However, knowledge of many of other lesser known herbs with medicinal properties is known very little outside these communities. Therefore, the present study aimed at evaluating in vitro antibacterial activity of three lesser known medicinal herbs (viz. Paederia foetida L., Leucas aspera and Houttuynia cordata Thunb.) against Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Listeria innocua, Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus luteus, Enterobacter aerogenes, and Enterococcus cloacae. The study showed that all methanolic plant extracts exhibited antimicrobial activity against all the test indicator organisms, and could effectively inhibit bacterial growth at concentration as low as 6.25–12.5 mg/ml.