Coleus aromaticus

Coleus aromaticus, an Indian medicinal plant used to treat various respiratory ailments was screened for their antimicrobial activity against a few respiratory pathogens. Acetone, ethanol and water extracts were prepared from the leaves of the chosen plant. The antimicrobial activity was determined against pathogens associated with respiratory conditions i.e. E.coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Citrobacter freundii, Staphylococcus aureus,Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis, Burkholderia cepacia and Candida albicans. The leaf extracts demonstrated significant activity in the disc diffusion assay and the zones of inhibition ranged from 5mm to 14mm, while the MIC values ranged from 0.312mg/ml to 20.0mg/ml. Hence, the antimicrobial activity recorded for the plant extracts validates their traditional uses to treat various respiratory infections. 

  Medicinal plants play a vital role to preserve human health. Herbs valued for centuries as a traditional medicine, has been used to treat various human ailments. The leaves of Coleus aromaticus are useful in cephalagia, otalgia, anorexia, dyspepsia, flatulence, colic, diarrhoea, cholera, halitosis, convulsions, epilepsy, cough, asthma, hiccough, bronchitis, strangury, hepatopathy and malarial fever. Annona squamosa Linn is used as an antioxidant, antidiabetics, hepatoprotective, cytotoxicactivity, genetoxicity, antitumor activity, antilice agent. We report here the effects of various plants extracts on the cell viability. The cell viability assay revealed that the aqueous extract of Coleus aromaticus leaves and methanolic extract of Annona squamosa leaves showed significant results. Further phytochemicals screening of the extracts of both the plants revealed presence of Flavonoids on the above extracts. The total flavonoids content were determined by aluminum chloride colorimetric method. The total flavonoids contents of aqueous extract Coleus aromaticus & methanolic extracts of Annona squamosa leaves were found to be 2.60% and 2.4% respectively. Key words: Coleus aromaticus, Annona squamosa,Cell viability , Spectrophotometric.