SANTALUM ALBUM;

Medicinal plants are good alternate of antibiotics against many bacterial as well as other diseases. Santalum album (Sandal) and Cymbopogon (Lemon grass) are two important medicinal plants whose important components were extracted by sequential extraction from non-polar to polar solvents. The study was aimed at finding antibacterial and radical scavenging potential of Santalum album (Sandal) and Cymbopogon (Lemon grass). Study Design: In vitro study. Setting: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Gujrat, Gujrat. Period: 12 months. Material and Methods: Sequential extracts of Santalum album and Cymbopogon with n-hexane, chloroform, acetone, ethylacetate, ethanol, butanol and water respectively were prepared to evaluate antibacterial activity against Staph aureus (25923), Staph aureus (38541), E.coli (25922), E.coli (35318), Streptococcus pyrogenes (Tc-11-2) and Shigella sonnei (BB-8). 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) was used to assess antioxidant activity. Results: Ethanolic and acetone extracts of sandal and lemongrass showed significant inhibtory activity against all seven strains. In case of sandal, acetone extract exhibited highest inhibitory activity against Staph aureus (25923) with 17±2 mm zone of inhibition while ethanolic extract of lemon grass showed highest activity with 16.333 ± 1.154mm zone of inhibition against E.Coli (35318). Other solvents including chloroform, n-hexane, ethyl acetate and butanol also showed considerable antibacterial activity, but water extracts of both plants showed no activity. All polarity based extracts of both plants exhibited antioxidant activity, ethanolic extracts of sandal and lemon grass showed highest radical scavenging activity with 84.366 ±1.504% and 83.766 ±4.272% inhibitions respectively. The minimum antioxidant activity was observed for chloroform extracts of sandal and n-hexane extract of lemongrass. Conclusion: we concluded that some plants have good antibacterial and antioxidant potential. Their phytochemical analysis can be carried out to find potent antibacterial and antioxidant compounds. This will be effective in combating bacterial diseases because mostly microbes are developing resistance against currently available antibiotics.