Investigating Synergistic Activity of Methanolic Extract of Curcuma Longa and Moringa Olifera for in Vitro Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities

The serious challenges posed by the antibiotic resistance to the drug discovery were answered by the natural products as starting points in the antibiotic drug discovery. Natural products are safe, effective and therapeutic agents which are being currently used for treatment of various diseases due to their chemical and biological diversity. Moringa olifera fruits and Curcuma longa rhizomes have potential uses like anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, hepatoprotective etc. individually. Hence, an attempt was made to prove the synergistic nature of these plants by screening for in vitro antioxidants and antibacterial activities. The qualitative screening proved that the methanolic extracts were found to be rich in phytoconstituents like alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides phenols etc. Hence, methanolic extracts were selected for the in vitro antioxidant screening using DPPH and H2O2 free radical scavenging methods. The IC50 was calculated which proved that the combined mixture of plants has higher activity than the Curcuma longa and Moringa olifera but was less than the standard, ascorbic acid. Further, in vitro antibacterial activity was studied using agar well diffusion method against gram-positive Streptococcus aureus, Bacillus subtulis and gram-negative Escherichia coli and Proteus vulgaris. Based on the measured zone of inhibition, the combined mixture was shown to have the higher antibacterial activity than the individual extracts. Hence, the synergistic effect of methanolic extracts was proved. Further, in vivo study may provide a strong correlation for pharmacological activity.