Phytochemical screening and antimicrobial activity of leaves of Ardisia colorata

Abstract

Ardisia colorata Roxb. is a traditional medicinal plant of long standing in use in South and South East Asian countries, especially for treating inflammation, digestive ailments and infections. Even though there has been a great ethnomedicinal tradition for the plant, there has been little formal scientific research done on the plant. The aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition, antioxidant activity and antimicrobial activity of the methanol extract of this species. The preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of various classes of bioactive compounds such as alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids, saponins and reducing sugars. Interestingly, glycosides, steroids and proteins were not detected. The antioxidant activity of the extract was then assessed by DPPH radical scavenging assay, where it exhibited moderate activity in comparison to the standard ascorbic acid. The disk diffusion method was used to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the extracts against Staphylococcus aureus, where the concentrations of the extracts showed an increasing trend in inhibitory zones with the highest extract concentration (80μL) showing the highest antibacterial activity. Altogether, these findings provide scientific evidence that supports the therapeutic uses of this plant historically identified and also highlight its possible use as a source of biologically active molecules suitable for the development of new pharmaceutical products. The authors suggest that further studies should be directed towards the isolation of the active compounds, toxicity testing as well as clinical trials to establish the plant's therapeutic value and safety in full.