In Vitro Antimicrobial Screening of Momordica charantia extracts against Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Strains

Abstract

A comparative study for screening the antibiotic potential of Momordica charantia successive extracts in vitro against eleven multidrug-resistant bacterial strains. Momordica charantia fresh fruit was extracted successively in different solvents in the order of increasing polarity from hexane to aqueous followed by screening against eleven antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains including both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains using Kirby-Bauer’s disk diffusion and agar well diffusion method. A study on Staphylococcus epidermidis and Corynebacterium xerosis are reported for the first time. Significant inhibitory activity was noted against most of the resistant human pathogenic strains. Findings reported that ethyl acetate fraction shows the highest zone of inhibition while hexane, petroleum ether, chloroform and aqueous extract were almost resistant. The antibacterial efficacy of Momordica charantia is found to be significant. It’s also concluded that the controversy on the antibacterial activity of Momordica charantia fruit extract in different solvents is based on several factors like the solvent used for extraction, plant part, concentration, method of extraction, etc. M. charantia extracts could be used as an alternative anti-microbial to replace antibiotics for treating a broad spectrum of multidrug-resistant bacterial diseases.