Abstract
Ayurvedic medicines are often used in different formulations, the heavy metals, which are generally referred to as being toxic. In this work, we report on the physicochemical characterization and biological activity of some typical Ayurvedic drugs available in the market that contain arsenic, mercury and lead with the emphasis on their antibacterial performance. Among the formulations studied, some of the drugs with ‘amorphous’ texture (and higher solubility) were found quite active against some bacterial strains whereas the formulations possessing crystalline texture (and low solubility) were found practically ineffective. The moderate activity of some drugs against Gram-negative bacteria fairly suggested the presence of the small-sized polar molecules which was also supported by the FTIR spectroscopic data.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge Universal Science and Engineering College, Chakopat, Lalitpur for providing lab facility for antimicrobial tests, Antonella Esposito (University of Rouen, France) for FTIR measurements and Dr. Bhanu Bhakta Neupane (Central Department of Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu) for microscopic studies.
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Panta, P., Bhandari, T.R., Lamsal, B., Adhikari, R. (2018). Characterization and Antimicrobial Property of Some Heavy Metals Containing Ayurvedic Drugs. In: Adhikari, R., Thapa, S. (eds) Infectious Diseases and Nanomedicine III. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1052. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7572-8_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7572-8_7
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