Antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity of Eclipta prostrata

The plant Eclipta prostrata, a member of the Compositae family, has folkloric reputation of being used as a medicinal agent in Bangladesh. In the present investigation, attempt was taken to explore the antimicrobial potency and cytotoxicity of its extractives and purified compounds. The methanolic extract of the whole plant, its n-hexane, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, aqueous soluble fractions and two purified compounds, eclalbasaponin I (1) and II (2), obtained from Eclipta prostrata were subjected to screening for inhibition of microbial growth by the disc diffusion method at 300 and 100 ${\mu}g$/disc for extracts and pure compounds, respectively. In this case, the carbon tetrachloride and chloroform soluble fractions of the methanolic extract appeared very potent in terms of both zone of inhibition and spectrum of activity. However, all the extractives were also subjected to brine shrimp lethality bioassay for preliminary cytotoxicity evaluation. Here, the carbon tetrachloride soluble fraction of methanolic extract revealed the strongest cytotoxicity having $LC_{50}$ of 1.318 ${\mu}g$/ml.