Phytochemical Analysis and Antibacterial Activity of Mirabilis jalapa Flower against Gastro Intestinal Pathogens

Mirabilis jalapa Linn. is widely used as a traditional medicine in many parts of the world for the treatment of various diseases viz. viral inhibitory activity, anti tumour activity. It is claimed in traditional medicine as the flower of the plant is used in the treatment of dysentery, diarrhea, muscular pain and abdominal colic. In the present study was attempted to reveal the qualitative phytochemical analysis of dried flower powder extracted in various solvents like aqueous, ethanol, methanol, chloroform and petroleum ether and their antibacterial activity against the gastrointestinal infections causing pathogens like Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bacillus cereus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Enterococcus faecalis, Salmonella typhi and Shigella dysenteriae. TLC was carried out in all the extractions and HPLC and FT-IR were used as confirmatory test to study the nature of secondary metabolites. The antibacterial activity of the extracts of Mirabilis jalapa was examined by Disc diffusion method. Aqueous, chloroform and petroleum ether extracts displayed the minimal inhibition while all the ethanolic and methanolic extracts showed good antibacterial activity against the selected pathogens. The bacterial growth inhibition was calculated with reference to the standard.