ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF CYCAS CIRCINALIS.L AND IONIDIUM SUFFRUTICOSUM. GING
Herbs with antioxidants and antimicrobial activity play a vital role in prevention and cure of certain complex diseases. Cycas circinalis and Ionidium Suffruticosum are the herbs taken to study its antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. The ethanolic extract of the above 2 herbs were taken and the antimicrobial activity was studied by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method and the antioxidant activity was analyzed by percentage inhibition of DPPH activity. Around 8 species of microorganisms were taken for antimicrobial assay. The Cycas circinalis showed 0.7mm of zone of inhibition for Staphylococcus aureus in culture whereas Ionidium Suffruticosum showed 1mm and 0.4 mm of zone of inhibition for Escherichia colli and Salmonella typhi respectively. The rest of all species were non-reactive for both the herbal extracts. The IC 50 values of I.suffruticosum at various concentrations were 95.6, 96.0 and 97.6 respectively whereas for C.circinalis, it was 78.7, 85.9 and 87.5 respectively. The IC 50 value of I.suffruticosum shows that the herb has more antioxidant property when compared to that of C.circinalis and standard (ascorbic acid). The study shows that I.suffruticosum and C.circinalis both have mild antimicrobial activity acting only on 2 species of bacteria and the rest were dormant. I.suffruticosum and C.circinalis both were found to have antioxidant activity. This is a preliminary study done on the above 2 herbs which is a part of vast ongoing research work.