Antimicrobial Activity of Leaf Extracts of Litsea iteodaphne (“Kalu Nika”) Against Clinical Isolates of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus

Abstract

The use of higher plants to treat infectious diseases is an age-old practice in a large part of the world population, where there is reliance on traditional medicine for a variety of diseases [1]. Interest in plants with antimicrobial properties has invigorated as a consequence of existing problems associated with the use of antibiotics [2]. There has been an increased apprehension in studying antimicrobial properties of plants after emergence of antibiotic resistance to current antibiotics as a result of antibiotics misuse. Infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates have increased greatly during the last decades in the community [3].Medicinal plants have been used as remedies for communicable diseases in many tropical countries, providing a rationale for discovering natural products for the treatment of MRSA infection. In vitro antimicrobial screening permits the selection of plant extracts with potentially useful properties to be used for further chemical and pharmacological studies. Litsea iteodaphne which is known in Sinhala as “KaluNika” is a rare endemic plant grown in Sri Lanka. L. iteodaphne has been used in traditional ayurveda medicine in the treatment of arthritis, boils, cough, ulcers and infections in the ear. Traditional use of this plant suggests its possible antimicrobial properties, but its antimicrobial activity against MRSA has never been investigated before. Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate the in vitro antibacterial potential of ethanol, hexane and aqueous extracts of L. iteodaphne against MRSA pathogenic bacteria and to screen the phytochemicals responsible for this antimicrobial activity providing an option to address the urgent issue of bacterial resistance to antibiotics