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
