PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF PERESKIA BLEO (KUNTH) DC.

Syeda Wasfiya Noor*, V. Kiran Kumar, P. Pranaya and N. Appala Raju*

ABSTRACT

Antimicrobial resistance has emerged as a cause of public health threat all over the world at a terrifying rate. The emergence of these global issues compels the continuous exploration of natural products containing antimicrobial activity. Pereskia bleo, a medicinal plant belongs to the Cactaceae family. This plant has been used traditionally for various medicinal purposes. However, previous studies regarding antimicrobial activity of Pereskia bleo leaves are still lacking. Hence, the present study was carried out to identify the phytochemical constituents and investigate the antimicrobial activity of Pereskia bleo leaves extract in different concentrations. Several phytochemical test were conducted to ascertain the presence of various phytoconstituents in the dichloromethane extract of Pereskia bleo leaves. The antimicrobial activity of four different concentrations of dichloromethane extract (50, 100, 150 and 200 mg/mL) and its ointment formulations (5, 10, 15 and 20% w/w) were evaluated by using agar well diffusion method against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. The phytochemical screening depicted that the leaves extract of Pereskia bleo revealed the presence of fats and oils, phytosterols/sterols, flavonoids, terpenoids, and phenolic derivatives whereas both alkaloids and lactones were absent in it. The extract showed antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa whereas no activity was observed for Escherichia coli. However, when the dichloromethane extract incorporated into petroleum jelly, all the extract ointments revealed no inhibitory effect against the selected bacteria. In summary, it is believed that dichloromethane extract of Pereskia bleo leaves might be beneficial towards bacterial infection related disease and has much potential to be developed as a phytomedicine. The inhibitory effect of this particular plant might be attributed by the presence of flavonoids and terpenoids. However, further investigation of Pereskia bleo are required in terms of in vitro and in vivo approaches in order to ensure the effectiveness and safety of the plant.

Keywords: Pereskia bleo; phytochemical screening; antimicrobial activity; agar well diffusion method.