Screening for Antibacterial Principle and Activity of Pedalium murex Linn.

Large caltrops (Pedalium murex L. Family: Pedaliaceae) a plant widely used in traditional medicine was evaluated for its antibacterial properties. Methanol, a polar solvent sequestered more variety and quantities of phytochemicals than chloroform and hexane. Leaf and fruit extracts revealed more variety of compounds than root and stem. Methanolic extracts of all parts have shown inhibitory activity against all bacteria tested. Similarly, methanolic extracts of leaf exhibited low minimum inhibitory concentration values followed by methanolic extracts of stem and root. A direct relationship was observed between the range of phytochemicals present in the extract and antibacterial activity. Fractionation of fruit extracts by high performance thin layer chromatography revealed 12 major compounds, prominent among them were pedaltin (R f 0.63), luteolin (R f 0.78) and dianantin (R f 0.95). Bio-autography studies revealed that two active compounds dianantin-7-glucoronide (R f 0.46) and luteolin (R f 0.78) were active against Pseudomonas putida and Staphylococcus epidermidis.