Abstract—In recent years, multiple drug resistance has been developed due to indiscriminate use of existing antimicrobial drugs in the treatment of infectious diseases. Conventional antibiotics are strong medicines, which if not used in precise way may cause harmful effects. The major thrust is to establish alternative antimicrobial agent in order to treat microbial infections with less or no toxic effect to body and less negligible side effects. The herbal medicines have shown potential to overcome the limitation associated with conventional drugs. However, the appropriate choice of source for herbal medicine is also very important. Terminalia chebula possesses potential pharmaceutical activities and used in several Ayurvedic formulations. The study of solvent-free organic (ethylacetate, acetone, methanol of increasing polarity) and aqueous extracts of the fruits of T. chebula, showed the potential to reduce growth of microorganisms, minimizing the risk of infection, while optimizing the conditions to encourage healing. In our study we found, methanol extract as a potential bactericidal and potent antioxidant while aqueous extract showed the least potential as an antimicrobial agent, though a moderate antioxidant. The finding may provide scientific rationale for the use of crude extract of the plant as a new drug compound as potential antioxidant and antimicrobial agent.

Index Terms—Antioxidant, Ayurvedic, Bactericidal, Terminalia chebula.

Sung Soo Han is with the Dept of Nano, Medical, and Polymer Materials Yeungnam University 214-1 Daedong, Gyeongsan 712749, Korea . (Tel.: +82-53-810-2773, fax: +82-53-810-4685 e-mail:sshan@yu.ac.kr)
Dolly Singh, Deepti Singh, Soon Mo Choi, Sun Mi Zo, Saet Byul Ki are with Dept of Nano, Medical, and Polymer Materials Yeungnam University 214-1 Daedong, Gyeongsan 712749, Korea (e-mail: dollys@yu.ac.kr, deeptis@yu.ac.kr, debate311@nate.com, koy41@nate.com, 87ksb@hanmail.net).

Cite: Dolly Singh, Deepti Singh, Soon Mo Choi, Sun Mi Zo, Saet Byul Ki, and Sung Soo Han, "Therapeutical Effect of Extracts of Terminalia chebula In Inhibiting Human Pathogens and Free Radicals," International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 164-167, 2012.