Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2016) 5(11): 472-477 472 Original Research Article http://dx.doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2016.511.054 Antibacterial Activity of Green Tea Leaves Ponnusamy Ponmurugan 1 *, Fahad Khalid Aldhafiri 2 and Santhanaraj Balakrishnan 2 1 Department of Biotechnology, K.S.Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode - 637 215, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu, India 2 College of Applied Medical Sciences, Majmaah University, Al Majmaah, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction In recent years it has been turned the attention from chemotherapeutic agents that to focus on green pharmacy which may be due to immediate action and metabolism. According to World Health Organization (WHO) report, traditional medicine systems serve the health need of about 80% of the world’s population (WHO, 2013). Traditional system of medicine is being followed in preparing novel drug products from medicinally important plants. The increasing concentration of drugs towards green pharmacy may be due to emergence of antibiotic resistance organisms, side effects and economic concern too. The alarming situation on the steady increase of antibiotic resistance microorganisms throughout the world, which resulted increased illness followed by deaths (Levy, 2002) and highlighting the search for a novel antimicrobial agents (Stepanovic et al., 2003). It is reported that green tea leaves are known for antimicrobial activity against numerous human pathogenic microorganisms. In recent years, green and black teas are being tested against both The major difference International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 5 Number 11 (2016) pp. 472-477 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The aim of the present investigation is to study the antibacterial activity of different green tea leaves subjected for solvent extraction against seven clinically isolated antibiotic resistant bacteria. Different types of tea leaves such as mother, scale (cataphyll), first, second and third and buds of tea plant were extracted successfully with petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and chloroform and tested for their antibacterial activity by well diffusion method. The results showed that a remarkable antibacterial activity of green tea samples of first and second leaves followed by leaf bud against the tested organisms was recorded. However zone of inhibition is moderate in third leaf and mother leaf which may be due to several factors including origin of tea leaves, vegetation habits, age of the leaves and extract preparation. Ethyl acetate extract of tea leaves was found to be the most effective against human pathogenic organisms in terms of growth inhibition. Keywords Tea leaves, Camellia sinensis, Antibacterial activity, Antibiotic resistant bacteria. Accepted: 23 October 2016 Available Online: 10 November 2016 Article Info