Phyllanthus wightianusMüll. Arg.: A Potential Source for Natural Antimicrobial Agents
Phyllanthus wightianusbelongs to Euphorbiaceae family having ethnobotanical importance. The present study deals with validating the antimicrobial potential of solvent leaf extracts ofP. wightianus. 11 human bacterial pathogens (Bacillus subtilis,Streptococcus pneumoniae,Staphylococcus epidermidis,Proteus vulgaris,Pseudomonas aeruginosa,Klebsiella pneumoniae,Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, Shigella flexneri, Proteus vulgaris, andSerratia marcescens) and 4 fungal pathogens (Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans, Mucor racemosus, andAspergillus niger) were also challenged with solvent leaf extracts usingagar well and disc diffusion methods. Further, identification of the active component present in the bioactive extract was done using GC-MS analysis. Results show that all extracts exhibited broad spectrum (6–29 mm) of antibacterial activity on most of the tested organisms. The results highlight the fact that the well in agar method was more effective than disc diffusion method. Significant antimicrobial activity was detected in methanol extract againstS. pneumoniae(29 mm) with MIC and MBC values of 15.62 μg/mL. GC-MS analysis revealed that 29 bioactive constituents were present in methanolic extract ofP. wightianus,of which 9,12-octadecaenioic acid (peak area 22.82%; RT-23.97) and N-hexadecanoic acid (peak area 21.55% RT-21.796) are the major compounds. The findings of this study show thatP. wightianusextracts may be used as an anti-infective agent in folklore medicine.