In-vitro antibacterial activity of Elytraria acaulis roots against some gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial strains

Elytraria acaulis also known as Patharchatta in Hindi belongs to the family of Acanthaceae. Elytria acualis has been long utilized as medicine by some ethnic people of India to cure many diseases including skin diseases, ring worm, and leucorrhoea. In the present study, the aqueous, alcoholic and ether extracts of Elytraria acaulis roots were screened for their antibacterial activities against both Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae and Bacillus cereus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae) bacterial strains and compared with the standard drug, Enrofloxacin (1.3mg/ml) using Zone of Inhibition (ZOI) with the help of agar well diffusion method and microtitre broth dilution assay (MIC). The data was analysed using SPSS programming, one-way ANOVA and post hoc multiple comparisons equal variance assumed by Tukey. Methanolic and ether extracts showed significant antibacterial activity than the aqueous extract but not up to the mark as compared to standard drug. It can be concluded that various extracts of Elytraria acaulis roots (EAR) might have potential chemical constituents that could be used in the future for the development of novel antibacterial agent.