Colebrookea oppositifolia is a highly used medicinal plant and an enriched source of essential oils. Therefore, the present study was designed with the aim to extract the chemical constituents and to evaluate its antioxidant potential. Fresh plant parts were subjected to the extraction of volatile chemical constituents by maceration using n-hexane as the menstruum. The resulting n-hexane fractions were purified and then subjected to GC-MS and FTIR analysis. In-vitro antioxidant abilities were evaluated by, DPPH, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) method against the standard solutions of (Gallic acid, Quercetin) as a positive control. The GC-MS analysis of leaves, stem and inflorescence showed a total of 100, 98 and 48 components out of which 47, 16 and 17 peaks were identified representing the 67.64 %, 73.16 % and 61.93 % of the total oily fractions, respectively. The FTIR spectrum indicated the presence of various functional groups. In-vitro antioxidant results exhibited that leaves showed the highest antioxidant potential by DPPH (3.365 ± 0.002), and the highest total phenolic content by FC method (203.00 ± 0.091). Foliar micromorphological features were found significant in the authentication of C. oppositifolia. Further pharmacognostic studies of this plant are recommended to evaluate its therapeutic potential.

Ergot alkaloids are novel pharmaceutical and therapeutic agents synthesized in this study using fungal species Penicillium citrinum. To get the maximum yield of ergot alkaloids a statistical process of response surface methodology was employed using surface culture fermentation technique. Initially, the strain of Penicillium was improved using physical (ultraviolet (UV) and chemical (ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) treatments to get the maximum yield of ergot alkaloids through surface culture fermentation technique. After improving the strain, survival rate of colonies of Penicillium citrinum treated with UV and EMS was observed. Only 2.04% living colonies were observed after 150 min of exposure of Penicillium citrinum in UV light and 3.2% living colonies were observed after 20 min of the exposure in EMS. The mutated strains of Penicillium citrinum were screened for their production of ergot alkaloids and after fermentation experiments, maximum yield was obtained from PCUV-4 and PCEMS-1 strains. After strain improvement, Plackett–Burman design (PBD) and Box–Behnken design (BBD) of RSM were employed and 10-fold yield enhancement (35.60 mg/100 mL) of ergot alkaloids was achieved. This enhancement in yield of ergot alkaloids proved the positive impacts of RSM and UV on the yield of ergot alkaloids. The study provides a cost effective, economical and sustainable process to produce medically important ergot alkaloids which can be used in various pharmaceutical formulations to treat human diseases.

Background: Post-craniotomy neurosurgical infections pose a major challenge in everyday neurosurgery, impacting patient recovery and adding financial strain on healthcare systems. Even with improvements in surgical methods and infection prevention measures, these infections continue to lead to complications and deaths related to surgery. Objective: Screening and isolation of pathogenic strains from Post- craniotomy infections and sensitivity assessment against different antibacterial agents. Method: Collected samples were streaked onto Nutrient Agar medium and isolated colonies were streaked for pure culture. Pure cultures were subjected to Blood Agar Test for isolation of pathogenic bacteria (beta-hemolytic strains) from infections. Molecular characterization was done to confirm and identify the pathogenic strain and accession number was obtained by nucleotide blast at NCBI site. Sensitivity of pathogenic strains against antibiotics and plant extracts was checked and zone of inhibition was measured. ONE WAY ANOVA was applied for statistical analysis and Tuckey’s PostHoc test for comparison. P>0.05 was set as significant. Results: P. aeruginosa exhibited resistance against Erythromycin while B. subtilis showed sensitivity against Erythromycin with 21.56±0.06 zone of inhibition, Levofloxacin exhibited maximum antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa with 19.97±0.12 and 16.36±0.04 zone of inhibition exhibited by B. subtilis against Levofloxacin. Gentamicin, showed moderate antibacterial activity against both P. aeruginosa and B subtilis with 15.78±0.02 and 13.51±0.07 zone of inhibition, respectively, but antibiotics exhibited non-significant difference with p>0.05. Both P. aeruginosa and B subtilis, showed sensitivity against plant extracts and plant extracts showed significant difference with p<0.05, C. zeylanicum exhibited maximum 18.77±0.09 and 15.26±0.31 zone of inhibition against B. subtilis and P. aeruginosa, respectively. Z. jujube showed minimum but antibacterial activity with zone of inhibition 7.98±0.09 and 7.66±0.44 against P. aeruginosa and B. subtilis, respectively. Both P. aeruginosa and B subtilis showed intermediate sensitivity against E. cardamomum with zone of inhibition 10.11±0.13 and 12.13±0.08, respectively. Conclusion: The current study concludes that antibacterial agents should be used instead of antibiotics against microbes, as excessive use of antibiotics leads to side effects and their continuous use also contributes to microbial resistance.