Phytochemical and antibacterial screening of different solvent extracts of Mentha spicata

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Research Paper 26/08/2025
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Phytochemical and antibacterial screening of different solvent extracts of Mentha spicata

V. R. Rakhi, T. S. Dhanaraj, V. Ramamurthy
Int. J. Biosci. 27(2), 280-286, August 2025.
Copyright Statement: Copyright 2025; The Author(s).
License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate antibacterial activity of the leaf of Mentha spicata plant against common pathogenic bacteria. The agar diffusion method was used to examine the antibacterial activity of different solvent extracts of Mentha spicata  tested against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. For qualitative phytochemical investigation, several solvent extracts of the complete M. spicata plant were investigated. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of M. spicata ethanol extract had significant antimicrobial effectiveness against Escherichia coli (489 µg/ml), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (449 µg/ml). The ethanolic extract showed (437 µg/ml and 410 µg/ml) antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus respectively. The lowest antibacterial activity was found in acetone extract with MIC (216µg/ml) of M. spicata. Various parts of the plant have the presence of variety of phytoconstituents such as flavonoids, saponins, tannins, terpenes, steroids, amino acids, essential oil, polysaccharides and pectin.

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