Antimicrobial Properties of Prosopis cineraria stem bark
Infectious diseases are the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Nowadays, medicinal plants play a major role in treatment of infectious diseases and they are easily available and more affordable as compared to synthetic compounds. The emerging trends of multidrug resistance among several groups of microorganisms against different classes of antibiotics led different researchers to develop efficient drugs from plant sources to counter multidrug resistant strains. This study investigated two different concentration of methanol extracts of stem bark of Prosopis cineraria to determine their efficacy against multidrug resistant microbes. Powdered barks of the tree were treated with methanol using hot extraction method. Crude methanol extracts of the bark of P. cineraria was investigated for their antibacterial activity against a wide range of bacteria (both gram-positive and gram-negative) by disc diffusion method. Ciprofloxacin was used as standard. Multidrug resistant (MDR) strains of Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6633), E. coli (ATCC 8739), Salmonella enterica (ATCC 14028), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853) were used in the study. The methanolic bark extracts of P. cineraria showed a remarkable inhibition of the microorganisms. The potency shown by these extracts recommends their use against multidrug resistant microorganisms. The present study suggests that the methanol extract of the stem bark of P. cineraria exhibited a potential antibacterial activity against the tested microorganisms and could be a potential source of new antimicrobial agents.