ISSN 2169-303X
Full Length Research Paper
Antibacterial activities and phytochemical screening of the acetone extract from Euphorbia hirta
Jalil Kader, Hanina Mohd Noor, Salina Mat Radzi,*Nur Aishah Abdul Wahab
Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), 71800 Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]. Tel: +6014-8409085
Accepted 13 May 2013
Abstract
Euphorbia hirta is widely used as traditional medicine. The aim of the present study was to evaluate E. hirta parts and whole plants for the antibacterial activities plus phytochemical exist through acetone extracts. Antibacterial assay was carried out via agar well diffusion assay for screening purpose and finally through micro dilution method in order to determine minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values against 10 selected bacteria. Gram positive bacteria were more susceptible compared to Gram negative bacteria via agar well diffusion assay. Whole plants E. hirta extracts very useful for inhibitory bacterium purpose. Whilst, all E. hirta extracts exhibited the bactericidal effect towards the ten bacteria tested. All bacteria tested susceptible to the roots extract based on the MBC/MIC value which is less than or equal to 4 (≤4). Phytochemical screening of E. hirta extracts revealed the presence of carbohydrates, lipids, protein, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, resins, steroids, acidic compounds, tannins, glycosides, phenols and terpenoids.
Key words: Euphorbia hirta, antibacterial activities, agar well diffusion assay, micro dilution method, phytochemical screening.