Antibacterial activity of Alpinia galanga (L) Willd crude extracts

Methanol, acetone and diethyl ether extracts of Alpinia galanga have been evaluated against pathogens viz. Bacillus subtilis MTCC 2391, Enterobacter aerogene, Enterobacter cloacae, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli MTCC 1563, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC 6642, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus epidermis using Agar well diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of all the extracts were determined using the macrodilution method. Methanol extracts have shown excellent activity towards all the pathogens with MIC and MBC values ranging from 0.04-1.28 mg/ml and 0.08-2.56 mg/ml, respectively. The GC-MS analysis of methanol extracts have yielded compounds like 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (59.9%), benzyl alcohol (57.6%), 1,8 cineole (15.65%), methylcinnamate (9.4%), 3-phenyl-2-butanone (8.5%) and 1,2 benzenedicarboxylic acid (8.9%), which could be responsible for its broad spectrum activity. So, A. galanga can be quite resourceful for the development of new generation drugs.