Effect of Certain Anti-diabetic Ayurvedic Drugs Against Microbes Causing Diabetes-Dependent Infections

The ayurvedic drugs Glymin (R), Hyponidd (R), Madhumerin (R)., Mersina (R) and Limit (R) are administered as anti diabetic drugs in the Indian system of medicine in which Gymnema sylvestre is a common ingredient We investigated the antimicrobial properties of the ethanolic extracts of these drugs against common microbes causing diabetes depended infections using agar well diffusion method The zone of inhibition (in the order of high to low) for each drug was Glymin S aureus, S pyogenes B subtilis Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Limit B subtilis, S pyogenes, S aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Mersina S aureus, S pyogenes, B subtilis, E faecalis, Madhumerin S pyogenes, C albicans, S aureus, and Hyponidd S pyogenes The minimum inhibitory concentration of the drugs against the test microorganisms were in the range of 75 - 200 mg ml(1) (1 9 - 5 0 mg well(1)) The Gas Chromatograph - Mass Spectrometric analysis of the ethanolic extracts of the drugs revealed the presence of Ar tumerone and curlone in Madhumerin, palmitic and benzoic acids in Glymin (R)., tetradecanoic acid, asarone and caryophyllene in Limit (R), alpha citral in Mersina (R) and delta elemene in Hyponidd (R) to a high percentage similarity with the internal standards of the instrument To sum up, this study suggests that the components present in the polyherbal formulations (Mersina (R), Glymin (R) and Limit (R)) would play a vital role in inhibiting diabetes depended infections thereby reducing the gravity of the disease with the advantage of reducing treatment cost and the quantity of drug consumption