COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ANTIMICROBIAL POTENTIAL OF PEEL AND MESOCARP OF LAGENARIA SICERARIA FRUIT EXTRACTS IN VARIOUS SOLVENTS AGAINST CLINICALLY IMPORTANT PATHOGENS

Abstract

The fruit of Lagenaria siceraria is commonly used as a vegetable. The aim of the present work was to compare the antimicrobial potential of extracts of its peel and mesocarp in various solvents against clinically important standard microbial strains including Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC9027, Escherichia coli ATCC8739, Bacillus subtilis ATCC6633, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538 and Candida albicans ATCC10231. In general, mesocarp was more potent than peel. P. aeruginosa was most susceptible, and methanolic extracts of both peel and mesocarp showed higher activity than antibiotic Amoxil. Ethyl acetate fractions of both the fruit parts and n-butanolic fraction of mesocarp showed highly significant activity against P. aeruginosa. Hexane fractions of peel and mesocarp and ethyl acetate fraction of mesocarp showed higher activity against C. albicans than Amoxil. In conclusion, the fruit of L. siceraria possesses exploitable antimicrobial activity, and further phytochemical investigation may yield good candidatesfor new anti-infection drugs.