In vitro Antioxidant, Antibiotic Complementing or Supplementing Potential and Urobactericidal Activity of Leaf Extract of Marsilea quadrifolia L.: The Water Fern

Abstract

From generations, most of the communities of India are dependent on locally available ethnomedicines for tackling urogenital related issues. The efficacies of these herbal supplements for prophylactic and curative purposes need immediate scientific validation. For this, the accurate antibacterial potential of methanolic extracts of leaves of Marsilea quadrifolia L. (MMq) are investigated via each possible method of estimation including the supplementary and complementary antibacterial effects on pathogenic strains. The phytochemical constituents like carbohydrates, flavonoids, glycosides, phenolics, steroids and terpenoids are tested positive in the MMq. The total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) are calculated to be 16.48 ± 0.4 mg/g of gallic acid equivalent and 96.33±4.4 mg/g of rutin equivalent respectively from the standard calibration curves. The IC50 value of MMq is found to be 258.55μg/ml in 1, 1 diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) assay by taking ascorbic acid as the standard. The extract gives significant complementary or supplementary inhibitory effects when added to certain antibiotic discs specifically against Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli. The efficacy of MMq is verified and confirmed through different antibacterial assays against all the test uropathogenic bacteria. A reduction of 52%, 20.9%, 39.7% and 86.6% in number of colonies is noted in cfu/ml on treating the bacterial stains of E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, E. faecalis and Proteus vulgaris respectively with a higher dose of MMq (1200μg) as compared to a lower dose of (200μg) in spread plate method. Present study recorded a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 2.5mg/ml of MMq each against E. faecalis, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 1.25mg/ml against S. aureus and P. vulgaris respectively. The preliminary reports of this study on MMq affirm an in-depth analysis of the usefulness of this plant as a miracle drug against certain uropathogens and urinary tract infections.