In Vitro Antimicrobial Activity Of Semecarpus anacardiumNuts Against human Pathogenic Bacteria

Semecarpus anacardium is a toxic nature plant and it belongs to family Anacardiaceae.lt is well known for its use in ayurveda and siddha as a potent medicinal herb since ancient times. According to Ayurveda Semecarpus anacardium is also named as Bhallataka and Dhobi nut. Phytochemical and pharmacological analyses of Semecarpus anacardium nut extracts shows a variety of bioactive compounds such as bioflavonoids, bhilawanols, phenolic compounds, minerals and glycosides which shows various medicinal properties.The various extract of Semecarpus anacardium has been screened for phytochemicals and exhibit the presence of Phenols, Steriods, Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Saponins, Tanins and Phytosterols. Antimicrobial susceptibility was assayed by the agar well diffusion method and three concentration of plant extract were prepared in 10% DMSO. Each bacterial suspension was inoculated on MullerHinton agar plates. Disc of Streptomycin was used as positive control and 10% DMSO soaked filter paper disc was used as negative control. Plates were incubated for 18 hr at 35 +/- 2 degrees C. After the incubation, the antibacterial activities of the extracts were determined by measuring the diameter of the inhibition zone around the well that was filled with the extract. The highest antibacterial activity was exhibited by the acetone extract against Enterococcus faecalis (IZ=27mm) and chloroform extract against Proteus vulgaris (IZ=23mm). Methanolic extract of nuts showed significant activity against five human pathogenic bacteria.The results revealed that various extracts of S. anacardium nuts showed significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecalis, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It provides preliminary information for further phytochemical and pharmacological analysis on the chemical constituency of the plant extracts. The results of the antimicrobial activity of various sequential extracts were in agreement with the uses of the extracts of Semecarpus anacardium in traditional medicine for the treatment of bacterial diseases.