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| ARTICLE |
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| Year : 1970 | Volume
: 18
| Issue : 2 | Page : 52-55 |
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Observation on the bacteriostatic property of extract of tamarindus indica leaf (til). second series
B Pal Choudhury, M Sengupta
Institute of Ophthalmology, Medical College, Calcutta, India
Correspondence Address:
B Pal Choudhury
Institute of Ophthalmology, Medical College, Calcutta
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
How to cite this article:
Choudhury B P, Sengupta M. Observation on the bacteriostatic property of extract of tamarindus indica leaf (til). second series. Indian J Ophthalmol 1970;18:52-5 |
The effect of the extract of Tamarindus Indica Leaf (TIL) on different bacteria is under study in the Institute of Ophthalmology, Calcutta for some time and a preliminary report on the observation of the bacteriostatic action of the extract of TIL in different concentration on different organisms is under publication. A further study has been carried out to find out the active agent of TIL responsible for the bacteriostatic action. The extract of TIL is acid in reaction due to presence of oxalic acid and it is argued that the acidity is possibly responsible for the bacteriostatic property. To determine the bacteriostatic action of TIL when buffered, a series of experiments was undertaken. As bacillus pyocyaneus is resistant to many known drugs, it was selected for the study.
| Method | |  |
Crude and undiluted extract of TIL (pH2 to pH3) was buffered to pH 6.4 to pH 6.8 by a solution of Sodium dihydrogen phosphate and Disodium hydrogen phosphate and mixed subsequently with nutrient agar. This pH range is chosen as most of the drugs used for topical application in Ophthalmology are neutral or near-neutral. The details of mixing are given elsewhere (Choudhury and Sengupta)[1]. For different concentrations of buffered extract of TIL in nutrient agar, ten sets of experiments were carried out with B. pyocyaneus stock culture of 6 types (Pyo. I to Pyo. VI). A series of control experiments were carried out with the buffer in nutrient agar at pH 6.4 to pH 6.8.
| Results | | |
The results of the study are tabulated. In all tables Pyo. I, Pyo. II, etc. indicate individual source of the B, pyocyaneus and the number of `+' signs indicates the amount of growth. One + means negligible growth, two + means moderate growth, three + means profuse growth; '-' means inhibition of growth.
Pyo. I, Pyo. II and Pyo. III are the sources of B. pyocyaneus used in the preliminary study (Choudhury and Sengupta 1967). This table, shows that the growth of all the organisms is inhibited by a 30% mixture of buffered extract in nutrient agar. The control of a mixture of the buffer solution in nutrient agar shows uniformly profuse growth of the organisms in all experiments.
This table shows that with 30% buffered extract in nutrient agar Pyo. IV growth is inhibited in 9 out of 10 experiments and grows moderately in 1 out of 10 experiments. Pyo. V growth is inhibited in 8 out of 10 experiments and grows profusely in 2 of 10 experiments. Pyo. VI growth is inhibited in 9 out of 10 experiments and grows moderately in 1 out of 10 experiments. Control shows profuse growth in all cases.
This table shows that with 25% buffered extract in nutrient agar Pyo. IV grows moderately in 1 out of 10 and the growth is inhibited in 9 out of 10 experiments. Pyo. V grows profusely in 7 out of 10 and moderately in 3 out of 10 experiments. Pyo. VI grows moderately in 1 out of 10 and is inhibited in 9 out of 10 experiments. Control shows profuse growth in all cases.
This table shows that with 20% buffered extract in nutrient agar Pyo. IV grows markedly in 5 out of 10 experiments, moderately in 1 out of 10 experiments, negligibly in 1 out of 10 experiments and totally inhibited in 3 out of 10 experiments. Pyo. V grows profusely in 7 out of 10 experiments and moderately in 3 out of 10 experiments. Pyo. VI grows profusely in 4 out of 10 experiments, negligibly in 2 out of 10 experiments and totally inhibited in 4 out of 10 experiments. Control shows profuse growth in all cases.
| Discussion | | |
In a preliminary study it was claimed by Choudhury and Sengupta [1] that growth of Bacillus pyocyaneus was inhibited by crude extract of TIL in concentrations of 35%, 30%, 25% and 15% in nutrient agar at pH 3 to pH 5. The present study shows that a 30% concentration of TIL buffered to pH 6.4 to pH 6.8 has also the bacteriostatic action on different strains of B. pyocyaneus. The study was performed in two series. In the first series [Table - 1], 30% concentration of buffered extract of TIL in nutrient agar was observed to inhibit three strains of B. pyocyaneus. In the second series [Table - 2], a 30% concentration of buffered extract of TIL inhibited the growth of B. pyocyaneus in all but four experiments. The noninhibition of B. pyocyaneus growth in four out of thirty experiments could be due to experimental errors. In two other series of experiments with 25% [Table - 3] and 20% [Table - 4] concentration of buffered (pH 6.4 to 6.8) extract of TIL in nutrient agar the growth of B. pyocyaneus was not inhibited consistently. A series of control study was done with buffer in nutrient agar at pH 6.4 to pH 6.8 which produced profuse growth of all strains of B. pyocyaneus. This shows that the buffer used in the present study does not interfere with the bacteriostatic property of the extract of TIL in 30% concentration. It is concluded that acidity of the extract of TIL is not the primary cause of its bacteriostatic property. The extract at 30% concentration must contain some inherent bacteriostatic agent which is responsible for the observed bacteriostatic.
| Summary | | |
The bacteriestatic property of Tamarindus Indica (til) is indicated by a series of experiments with proper controls. The series show its effectiveness against B. Pyoeyaneous.
| References | | |
| 1. | CHOUDHURY, B. P. and SENGUPTA, M. - Preliminary Observation on the Bacteriostatic Property of Tamarindus Indica (Tamarind) Leaf Extract. J. Indian. Med. Assn., 40, 465-470, (1967).  |
[Table - 1], [Table - 2], [Table - 3], [Table - 4]
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