A study on the efficacy of biofilm disrupting agents and their synergistic actions against pathogenic bacteria

Abstract

From ancient times, there has been a lot of importance given to plants with medicinal newlinevalues in Indian culture. Many areas in the plant science domain are still being explored newlineand two such plants are guava or Psidium guajava and Syzygium jambos. Phytochemical newlineanalysis of ethanolic extracts of both these plants shows presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols, tannins and terpenoids. Some of these phytochemicals have newlinealso been quantified in the present study. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis of the plant extracts has revealed the presence of components like copaene, caryophyllene, cis-and#946;-farnesene, humulene, cis-calamenene, phytol, neophytadiene, n-hexadecanoic acid etc. thereby proving that leaves of Psidium guajava and Syzygium jambos have numerous components that are responsible for their diverse properties like antimicrobial, antibiofilm, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. To test the percentage radical scavenging activity of the plant extracts, 2,2-Diphenyl-1- picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) assay was used, and the reducing power assay was further performed to assess the ability of the extracts in reducing ferric ions to ferrous ions and thereby cumulatively justifying the antioxidant potential of the plant extracts. Among the two plants under the current study, Syzygium jambos plant extract has shown better results when compared to Psidium guajava with respect to the antioxidant activity and the quantity of polyphenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, and tannins present in the plant samples. Most bacterial species today have evolved with time and gained resistance to a wide spectrum of antibiotics. Though the reasons for resistance are multiple, the ability to form biofilms and to produce and#946;-lactamase enzymes tops the list. Many plants have been explored for their potent phytochemicals and their competence in inhibiting or destroying bacterial biofilms. The present study sheds light on antibiofilm properties of two such plants viz.