Antibacterial Effect of Amlaki (Phyllanthus emblica) Extract Against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli

An exploratory study based on laboratory experiment was carried out to determine the antibacterial effect of Aqueous and Ethanolic extract of Phyllanthus emblica (Amlaki) and standard antibiotic ciprofloxacin against standard strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli in the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics in collaboration with the Department of Microbiology, Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, Bangladesh from July 2018 to June 2019. Six separate experiments (Expt) were done e.g. (Expt I) Determination of the antibacterial activity of Aqueous extract of Phyllanthus emblica (Amlaki), (Expt II) Ethanolic extract against S. aureus andE. coli by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method, (Expt III) Determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Aqueous extract, (Expt IV) Ethanolic extract, (Expt V) a standard antibiotic Ciprofloxacin against test organisms by broth dilution technique as well as making a comparison with MIC of AAE and EAE and (Expt VI) Subculture studies of materials from effective AAE, EAE and Ciprofloxacin preparations for confirmation of respective results of experiments III, IV and V. Both aqueous and ethanolic extract of amlaki was found active against S. aureus and E. coli in disc diffusion method. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts were used in six different concentrations 100μg/ml, 200μg/ml, 400μg/ml, 600μg/ml, 800μg/ml and 1000μg/ml. For aqueous and ethanolic extracts dose dependent inhibitory effect was observed against the test organisms. By broth dilution technique, the MICs (Minimum Inhibitory concentration) of AAE for both S. aureus and E. coli were 700μg/ml. In case of EAE, respective MICs for S. aureus and E. coli were 500 and 600μg/ml. Besides, MIC of Ciprofloxacin was also determined for S. aureus and E. coli were 1.0 and 1.5μg/ml respectively. The MIC of Ciprofloxacin was lowest in comparison to MICs of AAE and EAE for the test organisms. The subculture studies also confirmed the results of the previous experiments. The result indicates the necessity for further research to isolate and detect the biologically active ingredients which are responsible for antibacterial effect, present in the Amlaki.