Ž .Fitoterapia 72 2001 171�173

Short report

Antibacterial activity of Punica granatum

D. Prashanth�, M.K. Asha, A. AmitMicrobiology Laboratory, Research & De�elopment Centre, Natural Remedies P�t. Ltd.,

Plot No. 5B, Veerasandra Indl. Area, Hosur Road, Bangalore 561 229, India

Received 17 July 2000; accepted 6 September 2000

Abstract

Successive petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol and water extracts of Punica granatumŽ .were tested in vitro for their antibacterial activity. The methanolic extract was found to be

most effective against all tested microorganisms. � 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rightsreserved.

Keywords: Punica granatum; Antibacterial activity

Ž .Plant. Punica granatum L. Punicaceae fruit rind was collected from Bangalore, inMay 2000. The sample was authenticated by our Pharmacognosy department,

Ž .where a voucher specimen BAU�AM�03 was deposited.

Use in traditional medicine. The rind is valued as an astringent in diarrhoea and� �dysentery 1 .

� �Previously isolated constituents. Alkaloids, tannins, glycosides 2 .

Ž .Tested material. Petrol 60�80�C , CHCl , MeOH and water successive extracts3Ž .yields: 0.78%, 0.2%, 30%, 15%, respectively . Preliminary phytochemical screening

� Corresponding author.Ž .E-mail address: indherbs@vsnl.com D. Prashanth .

0367-326X�01�$ - see front matter � 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.Ž .PII: S 0 3 6 7 - 3 2 6 X 0 0 0 0 2 7 0 - 7

( )D. Prashanth et al. � Fitoterapia 72 2001 171�173172

� � Ž . Ž .3,4 gave positive tests for sterols petrol extract , alkaloids CHCl extract ,3Ž . Ž .tannins and alkaloids MeOH extract , and tannins water extract .

� �Studied activity. Antibacterial activity by agar dilution technique 5 .

Used microorganisms. Staphylococcus aureus MTCC 737, Escherichia coli MTCC723 , Klebsiella pneumoniae MTCC 109 , Proteus �ulgaris MTCC 1771, Bacillussubtilis MTCC 441, Salmonella typhi MTCC 537. The cultures were obtained fromInstitute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, India.

Results. Reported in Table 1.

Table 1aAntibacterial activity of extractives from Punica granatum fruit

Ž .Tested material Minimum inhibitory concentration mg�ml

S. aureus E. coli K. pneumoniae P. �ulgaris B. subtilis S. typhi

Petroleum ether extract 12 12 12 12 12 12Chloroform extract 12 12 25 12 6 12Methanol extract 6 12 12 1.5 6 12Water extract 25 50 Not active 12 25 25

bChloramphenicol 0.0025 0.005 0.005 0.005 0.005 0.0025

aAll determinations were done in triplicate.bReference standard.

Conclusions. All the tested extracts showed some antibacterial activities whichwere significant for the methanolic extract, especially against P. �ulgaris and B.subtilis. These results may support the use of Punica granatum in traditionalmedicine.

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Mr R.K. Agarwal, Chairman, M�s. Natural Reme-dies Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore for his encouragement and Mrs T.S. Geetha for secretar-ial assistance.

References

� �1 Sathyavati GV, Gupta AK, Neeraj T. Medicinal plants of India, New Delhi, 2. Indian Council forMedicinal Research, 1987:540.

� �2 Husain A, Virmani OP, Popli SP et al. Dictionary of Indian medicinal plants. Lucknow, India:CIMAP, 1992:384.

( )D. Prashanth et al. � Fitoterapia 72 2001 171�173 173

� �3 Trease EG, Evans WC. Text book of pharmacognosy 13th ed.. London: Bailliere Tindall,1989:546.

� �4 Kokate CK, Purohit AP, Gokhale SB. Pharmacognosy, 4th ed.. Pune: Nirali Prakashan,1996:123�124.

� �5 Mitscher LA, Leu RP, Bathala MS, Wu WN, Beal JL, White R. Lloydia 1972;35:157.