Screening of Preliminary Phytochemicals, Molecular Identification, and Antimicrobial and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Justicia gendarussa

Abstract

Justicia gendarussa is a well-known medicinal plant from ancient times that has been using to treat a variety of ailments. The main objectives of the current study were to assess the phytochemicals, molecular identification of the plant, and determination of MIC, as well as antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities of various types of plant extracts (aqueous, ethanolic, methanolic, diethyl-ether, dichloromethane, and ethyl-acetate extracts) of J. gendarussa (leaves) against 11 human pathogens, including bacteria and fungi. In the present study, J. gendarussa was identified as a medicinal plant based on ITS gene amplification by PCR. The screening of the presence of important phytochemicals that carry high significance from a therapeutic standpoint was also carried out. The antimicrobial activity was assessed by following the disc diffusion and broth dilution procedures. The highest antimicrobial activity was observed against S. aureus (16 mm), S. flexneri (15 mm), and C. albicans (15 mm) compared with gentamicin (10 μg/disc) and fluconazole (25 μg/disc). Besides this, methanolic extract showed the highest anti-inflammatory activity (76% membrane protection). The MIC values (8–2048 μg/ml) of aqueous extract were observed against both types of bacteria and fungi, with the highest MIC value recorded at (2048 μg/ml) for S. flexneri. This study is the primary investigation in Bangladesh where molecular identification of this medicinal plant was carried out and the anti-inflammatory activity of this plant was evaluated by the HRBC membrane stabilization method. In conclusion, our findings suggest that this plant may be useful in research and development for discovering a broad spectrum of modern herbal medicines.