Preliminary antibacterial evaluation of fronds of Pteris quadriaurita Retz. towards bacteria involved in dermatological diseases

Pteris quadriaurita, a medicinally relevant pteridophyte used as an antihelmintic plant in traditional systems of medicine. In the present study fronds of Pteris quadriaurita was evaluated for its antibacterial potential and phytochemical contents in various solvent extracts of the plant in increasing polarity towards pathogenic bacterial species involved in skin diseases in human being. Antibacterial activity was evaluated by disc diffusion method. The results indicated that fronds of the plant showed antibacterial activity especially in methanolic extract. The mathanolic extract of the plant showed maximum activity towards Pseodomonas aeruginosa, a multi-drug resistant strain. Petroleum ether and water extracts did not show any antibacterial activity towards any of the tested organisms. The occurrence of flavonoid and terpenoids content in the plants may be one of the reasons for their antibacterial activity. Methanolic extract of the plant exhibited minimum inhibitory concentration as 25mg/ml and minimum bactericidal concentration as 50mg/ml towards Pseudomonas aerogenosa.