Study of antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Andrographis paniculata

An antioxidant is a molecule capable of terminating the chain reactions that damage cells by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions by thereby reducing stress responsible for many degenerative disorders. Andrographis paniculata Nees, a multipurpose tropical plant is believed to have many medicinal properties. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant activity of the Hexane, DCM and Methanol extracts of Andrographis paniculata Nees. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated using two assays viz. DPPH Radical Scavenging Assay and Total Reducing Capacity. In DPPH assay, the IC50 values obtained for Hexane, DCM and Methanol extracts were 223.3mg/ml, 69.32mg/ml and 82.23mg/ml respectively. In the Total reducing capacity assay, activity increased in dose dependent manner for all the three plant extracts. The antimicrobial activity of the extracts was evaluated using the Broth Dilution Method. The results obtained in the present study indicate that the leaves of Andrographis paniculata showed the best antibacterial activity against the gram positive organisms ie; S.aureus and S. pyogenes. The DCM extract showed the lowest MIC (100μg/ml) for both the gram positive organisms. All the 3 extracts showed antifungal activity against C. albicans with 200 μg/ml as the MIC.

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