Inventi Rapid: Ethnopharmacology Vol. 2012, Issue 3 [ISSN 0976-3805] 2012 pep 669, CCC: $10 © Inventi Journals (P) Ltd Published on Web 05/05/2012, www.inventi.in RESEARCH ARTICLE INTRODUCTION Medicinal plants are important substances for the development of new medicines on the basis of their traditional uses for the treatment of diseases. In recent years, human pathogenic microorganisms have been becoming antibiotic resistance due to indiscriminate use of commercial antimicrobial drugs commonly employed in the treatment of infectious diseases. This has forced scientist to search for new antimicrobial substances from various sources like the medicinal plants 1,2,3,4 and certain bioactive molecules which inhibiting bacterial or fungal growth (antimicrobial activity) 5,6,7 were reported. In the present work two medicinal plant Chrozophora rotteleri belonging to euphorbiaceae family was evaluated for its antibacterial property. Chrozophora rottleri is traditionally used in traditional medicine by native medical practitioners for the treatment of various diseases. The plant is used medicinally in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and India (e.g. against jaundice and purifying blood). In India and Sudan, powdered stems or whole plants are applied to wounds to improve healing 8 . In Nepal, juice of the fruit is given in cases of cough and colds, purifying agent (leaf) and laxative (seed), having bioactive components. The fruits yield a purplish blue dye, which is used in East Africa to dye mats 9, 10 . The leaves are very much beneficial in treating skin diseases and also used as a depurative agent 11 . The seeds are used as cathartic like Ghodtapde and credited with purgative properties 12 . MATERIALS AND METHODS Chemicals Muller Hinton agar media was purchased from Sisco Research Laboratories Pvt Ltd., Mumbai. All the chemicals and reagents used were of analytical grade. Preparation of Extracts The plant materials were collected from Jagityala and Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh. The aerial parts were 1 A.U College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam-530003, Andhra Pradesh, India. 2 Department of Botany, College of Science and Technology, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam-530 003, A.P, India. E-mail: tmrao1987@gmail.com *Corresponding author separated, dried under shade and powdered. The coarse powder was extracted with 70% v/v ethanol, methanol, ethyl acetate and hexane separately in a Soxhlet apparatus. The liquid extracts were filtered and evaporated under reduced pressure by using rotary evaporator (Buchi R-210) until a soft mass obtained and then four extracts were used for further investigation. Test Organisms Eight bacterial species were used. The microorganisms used for the experiments were procured from NCIM, NCL, Pune, India. Gram-positive Organisms Streptococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus epidermidis (2074), Bacillus megaterium (2670) and Staphylococcus aureaus (2793) Gram-negative Organisms Escherichia coli (2810), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (2074), Salmonella typhimurium (2501) and Klebsiella pneumonia (2957). Culture Media The Bacterial species were maintained in the nutrient broth medium on placing shaker in separate culture tubes for each species separately. For Anti bacterial activity Muller-Hinton Agar media was used. Evaluation of Antibacterial Activity The cylinder plate assay of drug potency is based on measurement of the diameter of zone of inhibition of microbial growth surrounding cylinders (cups), containing various dilutions of extracts 13 . A sterile borer was used to prepare four cups of 6 mm diameter in the agar medium spread with the micro-organisms and 0.1 ml of inoculums. These cups were spread on the agar plate by spread plate technique. Accurately measured (0.1 ml) solution of each concentration and reference standards were added to the cups with a micropipette. All the plates were kept in a refrigerator at 2 to 8°C for a period of 2 hours for effective diffusion of test compounds and standards. Later, they were incubated at 37°C for 24 hours. The presence of definite zone of inhibition of any size around the cup indicated antibacterial activity. The control (dimethyl sulphoxide) was run simultaneously to assess the activity Anti-bacterial Activity Different extracts of Chrozophora rotteleri B Ganga Rao 1 , Y Venkateswara Rao 2 , T Mallikarjuna Rao 2* Abstracts: The present study was aimed to evaluate antibacterial capacity of Chrozophora rotteleri plant extracts. Antibacterial activity was evaluated on eight bacterial strains by using cup plate method. The extracts were produced concentration dependent antibacterial activity. All extracts showed good zones of inhibition against gram –ve organisms than gram +ve organisms. Methanol extract showed significant activity and hexane extract produced low zones of inhibition against bacterial strains. From the results obtained during the study it could be concluded that extracts of Chrozophora rotteleri have antibacterial components. Further is necessary for isolation and characterization of bioactive molecules which are responsible for antibacterial activity. 1