EVALUATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL EFFICACY AND GROWTH DYNAMICS OF HUMAN PATHOGENS EXPOSED TO PROSOPIS JULIFLORA POD EXTRACT

Abstract

Introduction

Prosopis juliflora is a woody shrub indigenous to Northern South America, possessing resistance to harsh climatic conditions. The ethnobotanical value of the plant has long been established, especially in folk medicine for the treatment of a range of diseases. Yet, its antimicrobial potential has not been thoroughly investigated. This research is focused on testing the antibacterial activity of P. juliflora pod extract against prevalent human pathogens and the growth kinetics of these pathogens in the presence and absence of the extract.

Materials and Methods

Fruits of Prosopis juliflora were harvested from the Karoonjhar Mountains, Tharparkar District, Sindh, Pakistan. The crude extract was obtained with the use of methanol as a solvent. Antibacterial activity was determined using the agar well diffusion assay against Gram-positive as well as Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. In addition, growth kinetics of the preferred microbial strains were observed through the measurement of optical density (OD) at 600 nm at different intervals.

Results

The pod extract was shown to have high antibacterial activity against all but one of the bacterial strains tested, and well-defined zones of inhibition were observed. The extract did not exhibit inhibitory activity against Streptococcus pyogenes and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The growth patterns of the bacterial strains showed an inhibition of bacterial growth when in contact with the extract, reflected by lower readings for OD values than the control groups.

Conclusion

The findings indicate that Prosopis juliflora pods are antibacterial, most probably due to the presence of a range of bioactive compounds. The work demonstrates the potential of this plant as a source of new antimicrobial agents. Isolation and identification of the active compounds responsible for these activities need to be done, which would lead to the creation of new pharmaceuticals.