INTEGRATED ANTIMICROBIAL, ANTIOXIDANT, PHYTOCHEMICAL, AND MOLECULAR DOCKING EVALUATION OF ANDROGRAPHIS PANICULATA EXTRACTS AGAINST MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT CLINICAL PATHOGENS

Abstract

This paper compared the antimicrobial, antioxidant, and phytochemical activity of Andrographis paniculata extracts with bacterial pathogens in the clinical samples. A total of twenty clinical samples (pus, urine, and sputum) produced different bacterial isolates such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, and Salmonella typhi. Preliminary identification was made possible by Gram staining, cultural characteristics and biochemical tests, but the cart wheel assay confirmed multidrug resistance by using ethidium bromide efflux. A. paniculata aqueous and ethanolic extracts were obtained by means of maceration, and the phytochemical yield of the ethanol extract was higher. The evaluation of antibacterial activity using agar well diffusion showed that the ethanolic extract had broader inhibition zones, especially with S. aureus and E. coli, and synergistic mixtures gave stronger growth inhibition. MIC values also demonstrated that the ethanolic extract (3.125 -12.5 mg/mL) was more potent than the aqueous extract. The phytochemical screening established the presence of tannin, flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids, and steroidal constituents. The radical-scavenging ability of the ethanol extract was found to be more effective in the case of ethanol, which is attributed to the higher levels of phenolic compounds. TLC profiling has shown the presence of several metabolites, and GCMS analysis has detected fourteen key compounds, with the major constituents being piperine (38.67). CB-Dock molecular docking demonstrated positive binding affinities of the key phytochemicals and multidrug-resistant bacterial target proteins. All in all, the research confirms A. paniculata as a potential source of antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, and the ethanolic extract has high efficacy with a good potential for development as a therapeutic agent.