Safety Standards and Antimicrobial Activity of Root of Salacia reticulata

Background and Objective: The safety and efficacy of natural products mostly depend upon the standardization of medicinal plants. Salacia reticulata widely used traditionally, the hence present study was designed to develop a safety profile and antimicrobial activity of different extracts of S. reticulate root. Materials and Methods: Antimicrobial activity of different solvent extract of standardized Salacia reticulata evaluated. All extracts of S. reticulata were tested against gram-positive and gram-negative strains using zone of inhibition and minimum inhibitory concentrations. The S. reticulata was subjected for physiochemical standardization, phytochemical analysis, microbial analysis, heavy metal analysis and antibacterial activity. The antibacterial activity was tested against different types of microorganisms such as Pseudomonas fluorescence, Proteus vulgaris, Staphylococcus epidermis, Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella aboni, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella typhi and Shigella sonnei. Results: The quality control measures such as microbial load and heavy metal toxicity were performed and they were found in normal values compared to WHO Standards. The antibacterial activity was tested against pathogenic bacteria and found that four bacteria such as P. vulgaris, S. epidermis, S. sonnei and B. subtilis which produces a significant zone of inhibition for all the solvents (chloroform, methanol, petroleum ether and ethyl acetate). The maximum zone of inhibition obtained for P. vulgaris is 37, 16, 26 and 15 mm. Conclusion: In the present study, the developed standardization protocol for different extracts of S. reticulata and the standardized extracts of S. reticulata shows significant antibacterial activity