A general lack of commercial value, small size, and inconspicuous place
in the ecosystem have made the bryophytes appear to be of no use to common man.
It is common knowledge that bryophytes are not infected by pathogens, even
though most live in close proximity with the forest floor or organic
decomposing substrates. Bryophytes contain numerous potentially useful
compounds, including sugars, sugar alcohols, amino acids, fatty acids,
aliphatic compounds, phenylquinones, flavonoids and phenolic substances, but
much work remains to link medical efficacy with specific bryophyte species or
compounds. Relatively little attention has been paid to correlate secondary
metabolites of bryophytes with therapeutic uses. Hence the present
investigation on selected bryophytes has been an attempt to screen the
secondary metabolites and their potential roles as antibacterial. Initially, a
phytochemical screening was attempted revealed a pool of secondary metabolites.
Phenols and flavonoids were present in significant levels. Subsequently,
phenols were fractionated revealed the presence of phenolic acids such as
gallic, vanillic, p-hydroxybenzoic, ferulic, chlorogenic, sinapic, para
coumarate and cinnamic acids. As the last phase, the antibacterial potentiality
was analyzed. Methanolic extracts of the bryophytes strongly inhibited
pathogenic microbial strains, including Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus
aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus
subtilis, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa as revealed by ELISA
technique and disc diffusion method. Further, the bacterial survival-time
analysis substantiated the MIC and MBC data. Further studies are warranted to
analyze the mechanism of microbicidal action of the bryophytes. - See more at:
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