Abstract

Anti Bacterial Activity of Leaf Extracts of Calotropis Gigantea Linn. Against Certain Gram Negative and Gram Positive Bacteria

Author(s): P. Bharathi, Alex Thomas, Ansa Thomas, S. Krishnan and T. K. Ravi

The fresh dried leaves of the plant Calotropis gigantea were successively extracted with chloroform, ethyl alcohol, ethyl acetate and dichloromethane using Soxhlet extractor. Aqueous extract was prepared by cold maceration method. Well plate method was employed to determine the antibacterial activity against certain Gram positive bacteria like B.subtilis NCIM 2063, Micrococcus luteus NCIM 2704, Staphylococcus aureus NCIM 2079 and Gram negative bacteria namely, K.pneumoniae NCIM 2719, P. vulgaris NCIM 2027 and E.coli NCIM 2118. Ethyl acetate and dichloromethane extracts showed better and broader spectrum of activity when compared to other extracts. Ciprofloxacin (10 µg/well) was used as the standard antibacterial agent.