Open AccessAntimicrobial activities and toxicity of crude extract of the <i>Psophocarpus tetragonolobus</i> pods
Author(s) -
Lachimanan Yoga Latha,
Sreenivasan Sasidharan,
Zuraini Zakaria,
Sri Suryani,
L Shirley,
S. Sangetha,
M Davaselvi
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
african journal of traditional complementary and alternative medicines
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2505-0044
pISSN - 0189-6016
DOI - 10.4314/ajtcam.v4i1.31195
Subject(s) - brine shrimp , artemia salina , antimicrobial , biology , haemolysis , toxicity , microbiology and biotechnology , traditional medicine , food science , chemistry , medicine , immunology , ecology , organic chemistry
The extract of the Psophocarpus tetragonolobus pods has been tested for antimicrobial activity in a disk diffusion assay on eight human pathogenic bacteria and two human pathogenic yeasts. The extracts of P. tetragonolobus possessed antimicrobial activity against all tested strains. The ethanolic extract of P. tetragonolobus pods was further tested for in vivo brine shrimp lethality test and in vitro sheep erythrocyte cytotoxic assay. The brine shrimp lethality test exhibited no significant toxicity (LC(50)=1.88 mg/ml) against Artemia salina, whereas sheep erythrocyte test showed significant toxicity. The reason for haemolysis of erythrocyte was discussed. The P. tetragonolobus extract with high LC(50) value signified that this plant is not toxic to human. This result also suggested that the ethanolic extract of P. tetragonolobus pods is potential source for novel antimicrobial compounds.