Abstract
Purpose:
Vidanga (Embelia ribes) has been described as one of the most potent krimighna dravyas in ayurvedic literatures. However, clinical studies have not unequivocally demonstrated the antibacterial activity of the drug when used against the bacterial pathogens of clinical importance. Recently, information is emerging regarding the confusion in the scientific community regarding the identification of authentic drug vidanga against Embelia robusta. Hence, the present work was designed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of different extracts of vidanga against clinical isolates of multidrug resistant bacteria.
Method:
The raw drug of Vidanga was collected from Ludhiana market and powdered using standard method. The crude drug was subjected to preliminary phytochemical analysis and the drug was extracted in aqueous, ethanol, methanol and chloroform solvents. Antibacterial activity of each extract was evaluated against the multidrug resistant clinical isolates of Klebsiella spp. Proteus spp. Salmonella spp. Citrobacter spp. E.coli, Bacillus spp.
Result:
Various extracts of the crude drug vidanga showed moderate to nill activity against most the clinically isolated bacterial agents.
Conclusion:
Observed degree of antibacterial activity directly reflects the characteristics of the constituent chemicals. The chemicals present in the drug may not be having soaring antibacterial effect. These observations might be attributed to the wrong identification of E.robusta to E. ribes.