The antibacterial power of the piluki, a small climbing shrub from India

A study published in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine reported that Combretum album (piluki), a small climbing shrub native to India, has antibacterial properties. The researchers involved in the study tested C. album’s antibacterial activity using several bacterial strains.

• Earlier studies have shown that plant-based remedies have made considerable contributions to research concerning the treatment of pathogenic bacteria. For this study, researchers were focused on discovering the antibacterial potential of both aqueous and ethanolic leaf extracts of C. album.
• The antibacterial activity of the plant was tested on seven different bacterial strains. The researchers then determined the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and zone of inhibition of the extracts.
• During testing, the diameters of the zone of inhibition were compared with standard antibiotics. Standard protocol was followed during preliminary phytochemical.
• Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR) analysis was utilized to determine the general phytochemical groups of compounds in the C. album extract.
• All experiments in the study were conducted in triplicate. The researchers performed one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey tests for statistical justification.
• The C. album ethanol extract used for testing had alkaloids, flavonoids, and tannins. The results of FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of R-CH2-OH groups (alcohols), aromatics, C-N stretching amine, and NH stretching secondary amine.

The research team concluded that study test results confirm the promising antibacterial activity of C. album leaf extracts against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, proving that it can potentially be used to help fight pathogenic bacteria

Find the full text of study at this link.

You can read more articles about the health benefits of other plants like C. album at Healing.news.

Journal Reference: 

Burman S, Bhattacharya K, Mukherjee D, Chandra G. ANTIBACTERIAL EFFICACY OF LEAF EXTRACTS OF COMBRETUM ALBUM PERS. AGAINST SOME PATHOGENIC BACTERIA. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2018;18(213). DOI: 10.1186/s12906-018-2271-0