%0 Journal Article
%T Antimicrobial activity of some ethnomedicinal plants used by Paliyar tribe from Tamil Nadu, India
%A Veeramuthu Duraipandiyan
%A Muniappan Ayyanar
%A Savarimuthu Ignacimuthu
%J BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
%D 2006
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6882-6-35
%X Plants were collected from Palni hills of Southern Western Ghats and the ethnobotanical data were gathered from traditional healers who inhabit the study area. The hexane and methanol extracts were obtained by cold percolation method and the antimicrobial activity was found using paper disc diffusion method. All microorganisms were obtained from Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.The results indicated that out of 18 plants, 10 plants exhibited antimicrobial activity against one or more of the tested microorganisms at three different concentrations of 1.25, 2.5 and 5 mg/disc. Among the plants tested, Acalypha fruticosa, Peltophorum pterocarpum, Toddalia asiatica,Cassia auriculata, Punica granatum and Syzygium lineare were most active. The highest antifungal activity was exhibited by methanol extract of Peltophorum pterocarpum and Punica granatum against Candida albicans.This study evaluated the antimicrobial activity of the some ethnomedicinal plants used in folkloric medicine. Compared to hexane extract, methanol extract showed significant activity against tested organisms. This study also showed that Toddalia asiatica, Syzygium lineare, Acalypha fruticosa and Peltophorum pterocarpum could be potential sources of new antimicrobial agents.According to World Health Organization (WHO) more than 80% of the world's population relies on traditional medicine for their primary healthcare needs. Use of herbal medicines in Asia represents a long history of human interactions with the environment. Plants used for traditional medicine contain a wide range of substances that can be used to treat chronic as well as infectious diseases. A vast knowledge of how to use the plants against different illnesses may be expected to have accumulated in areas where the use of plants is still of great importance [1]. The medicinal value of plants lies in some chemical substances that produce a definite physiological action on the human body. The most important of these bio
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/6/35