Preliminary In Vitro Assessment of Antimicrobial and Haemostatic Activity of Spider Web Silk Extract

Spider web is made up of a material which is known as silk.Silk contains protein which shows various pharmacological action against various pathogens.The objective of this research work was to investigate antimicrobial as well as haemostatic action of spider web metabolized and to identify certain haemostatic and antimicrobial compounds.Web solvent extract (acetone, methanol and ethyl acetate) was screened for in vitro antimicrobial activity.Most of the extracts demonstrated potent antimicrobial activity at 400 μg/ml and 800 μg/ml by cup plate method.Acetone extract of spider silk showed profound antimicrobial activity against gram positive organism Bacillus subtilis, ethyl acetate extract against gram negative test organism Escherichia coli, methanol extract against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and in ethyl acetate extract against gram positive organism Staphylococcus aureus and antifungal activity against test organism Candida albicans.The evaluation of in vitro hemostatic activity of the web solvent extract demonstrated the partial effect on promoting hemostasis, which may be partly contributed to the platelet aggregation and subsequent activation of the primary hemostasis.So further experiments should be designed to isolate the active ingredients and investigate possible hemostatic activities and mechanisms of web extract.