Antibacterial Activity of Some Andean Colombian Plants

Abstract

Sixty-five different extracts from 22 plants belonging to 6 of the most representative families in the Regional Natural Park Ucumarí (RNPU) were investigated for their in vitro antibacterial activity through the plate-well diffusion assay against the following bacteria: Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. The plant extracts were obtained by Soxhlet in n-hexanes, dichloromethane, and methanol. Of these, 32.31% of the extracts were active against B. subtilis, 10.77% exhibited activity against K. pneumoniae, 7.69% of the plant extracts showed antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa, 9.23% were bioactive to S. aureus, and 4.61% were found to be active against E. coli. The methanol extracts from the plants studied exhibited the highest antibacterial activity.

Keywords:

• Agar well diffusion method
• Asteraceae
• bioprospection
• Euphorbiaceae
• Melastomataceae
• Podocarpaceae
• Rubiaceae
• Solanaceae