The extract of the
Psophocarpus tetragonolobus
pods has been tested for antimicrobial activity in a disk diffusion assay on eight human pathogenic bacteria and two human pathogenic yeasts. The extracts of
P. tetragonolobus possessed antimicrobial activity against all tested strains. The ethanolic extract of
P. tetragonolobus pods was further tested for
in vivo brine shrimp lethality test and
in vitro sheep erythrocyte cytotoxic assay. The brine shrimp lethality test exhibited no significant toxicity (LC
50=1.88 mg/ml) against Artemia salina, whereas sheep erythrocyte test showed significant toxicity. The reason for haemolysis of erythrocyte was discussed. The
P. tetragonolobus extract with high LC
50 value signified that this plant is not toxic to human. This result also suggested that the ethanolic extract of
P. tetragonolobus pods is potential source for novel antimicrobial compounds.
