Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activity of

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ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF METHANOLIC EXTRACT OF MACHILUS ODORATISSIMA INTRODUCTION Plants, as the source of medicine, have been playing an important role in the health services around the globe [1]. About three quarters of the world’s population relies on plant and their extracts for health care [2]. A good number of our population particularly those living in rural areas depend largely on herbal remedies for the treatment of different types of diseases. It indicates the importance of the individual plants in the health care system. Although, Nepal is a small country, it is rich in biodiversity due to its geographical features and has many plants with medicinal and aromatic values. Some of them are used in traditional medicine and some are still not explored scientifically for their medicinal values. So, the present study of plant Machilus odoratissima was selected for biological scrutiny. Literature survey of this plant revealed not much information about its medicinal uses; however other species of this plant have been reported to have antibacterial and antioxidant properties [3, 4, 5]. It is likely that when bioactive compounds are found in one species, mor Extraction of Plant The bark of M. odoratissima was cleaned with distilled water, air dried, powered and 100 gm of the powdered plant material was extracted by maceration using methanol. The methanol extract was then defatted by mixing with petroleum ether and removing the petroleum ether fraction. Finally, the methanol portion was evaporated by vacuum evaporator (RICON) at temperature below 40°C to obtain the dried powder. Phytochemical Screening The phytochemical screening of methanol extract was done to identify the main groups of chemical constituents present in methanol extracts of M. odoratissima by their color reaction [6, 7]. Antioxidant

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