• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.286-289
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• 2007

Heracleum nepalense D Don. (Umbelliferae) is a small shrub having high glabrescent stem found in stream banks in Sikkim. Various medicinal properties which include antidiarrhoeal, antiseptic, anti-influenzal etc. have been attributed for this plant in the traditional system of medicine in Sikkim. In present investigation the methanol extract of roots of Heracleum nepalense was subjected for its effectiveness against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria causing diarrhoea. The roots extract was tested for its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms causing diarrhoea. Further, the zones of inhibition produced by the crude extract against few sensitive strains was measured and compared with those of standard antibiotic ciprofloxacin. It is evident that the methanol extract is very active against the bacteria causing diarrhoea at low concentrations. The antibacterial efficacy of the root extract was found to decrease in the following order against different tested bacterial strains like Shigella dysenteriae, Escherichia coli, Shigella boydii, Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella typhimurium.