Antibacterial Activity of Flavonoids Extracted from Seeds of Pongamia pinnata Linn against Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Introduction: Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is defined as the resistant to
penicillinase-stable penicillin’s, thus the acronym MRSA is still under use even though methicillin is no
longer the agent of choice for treatment. The use of vancomycin for MRSA remains as the treatment
of choice but concerns with rising resistance to glycol peptides call for the restrictive use of these
drugs. The resistance mechanism and the genes that mediate resistance have presumably evolved in
organism that produce antibiotics such that the antibiotic produced is not effective against the
producing organism.
Aims: To assess the antibacterial property of seed crude extracts of Pongamia pinnata Linn and
isolated flavonoids component from crude extract against Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus
obtained from clinical isolates.
Study Design: Observational study.
Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Allied health sciences, Department of Biochemistry
and Department of Microbiology in Sri Devaraj Urs Academy Of Higher Education and Research,
Tamaka, Kolar, between February 2014 and march 2015.
Methodology: Confirmed clinical isolates for MRSA were collected from Microbiology department to
test the efficacy of crude extracts of seeds from Pongamia pinnata L. Methanolic crude extract has
been preferably used for isolation of flavonoid content using Dimethyl Sulfoxide [DMSO] and methanol
as ideal solvents during extraction process by column chromatography technique. Agar well diffusion
method was performed to determine the antibacterial activity of crude seed extracts of Pongamia
pinnata and isolated flavonoids by using quercitin as positive control for flavonoids. Vancomycin a
glycopeptide powder used as gold standard for comparing bactericidal activity of quercitin, flavonoids
and crude extracts of P. pinnata on MRSA.
Results: The highest antibacterial activity (75-89%) was observed in crude extract of Pongamia
pinnata in comparison to vancomycin considered as cent percent. Extracted flavonoids showed
activity (66-92%) with respect to crude extract and (50-84%) with vancomycin and the activity (71-
92%) with respect to quercitin when tested with concentration ranging from 25-400 μg/ml.
Conclusion: This study showed that seed extracts of Pongamia pinnata L and its phytochemical
compound flavonoids showed potential antibacterial activity against MRSA using quercitin and
vancomycin. Flavonoids occupy the first grade antimicrobials in combating methicillin resistant
staphylococcus aureus infections. These infections which are prominent in ICU units and HICU units
can be drastically controlled without any side effects.