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Pak. J. Bot., 44(4): 1199-1201, 2012.

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VALIDATION OF SOME OF THE ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL USES OF XANTHIUM STRUMARIUM AND DUCHESNEA INDICA

FAZLI KHUDA^1*, ZAFAR IQBAL¹, AYUB KHAN², ZAKIULLAH¹, FAZLI NASIR¹ AND MUHAMMAD SHAFIQ KHAN³

Abstract: The antimicrobial potential of alcoholic extract and various fractions of Xanthium strumarium (XS) and Duchesnea indica (DI) against different strains of bacteria and fungi was investigated. The chloroform fraction from Xanthium strumarium was found to be the most active among the fractions, showing good activity against Escherichia coli, Shigella flexneri, Bacillus subtilus and Staphylococcus aureus. Interestingly, most of the activity detected was against gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria. The chloroform fraction exhibited significant antibacterial activity (19 mm zone of inhibition) against gram negative (Shigella flexneri), bacteria. Promising level of antifungal activity was observed in all fractions against Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium solani and Microsporum canis. Looking to these results it may be concluded that Xanthium strumarium and Duchesnea indica can be a potential source for activity guided isolation of lead compounds with antimicrobial properties.

¹Department of Pharmacy, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, 25120, Pakistan

²Department of Chemistry, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat, 26000, Pakistan

³Department of Pharmacy, Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan

^*Corresponding author’s e-mail: fazli_khuda2008@yahoo.com