Euphorbia hirta is widely used as traditional medicine. The aim of the present study was to evaluate E. hirta parts and whole plants for the antibacterial activities plus phytochemical exist through acetone extracts. Antibacterial assay was carried out via agar well diffusion assay for screening purpose and finally through micro dilution method in order to determine minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values against 10 selected bacteria. Gram positive bacteria were more susceptible compared to Gram negative bacteria via agar well diffusion assay. Whole plants E. hirta extracts very useful for inhibitory bacterium purpose. Whilst, all E. hirta extracts exhibited the bactericidal effect towards the ten bacteria tested. All bacteria tested susceptible to the roots extract based on the MBC/MIC value which is less than or equal to 4 (≤4). Phytochemical screening of E. hirta extracts revealed the presence of carbohydrates, lipids, protein, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, resins, steroids, acidic compounds, tannins, glycosides, phenols and terpenoids. Key words: Euphorbia hirta, antibacterial activities, agar well diffusion assay, micro dilution method, phytochemical screening.

The different parts of Euphorbia hirta which are flowers, stems, leaves and roots showed high antibacterial activity against two strains of bacteria namely Staphylococcus epidermidis and Shigella sonnei. In this present study, attempt was made to evaluate the combination effects between each two different parts of E.hirta on those strains. The two different parts of plants combinations (which are flowers-stems, flowers-leaves, flowers-roots, stems-leaves, stems-roots and leaves-roots) were treated on each selected bacteria, while the single part treatments was served as the controls. Generally, there are four combination effects which are synergism, additive, antagonisms and indifference effects could be observed in this study. Synergism effect was only indicated for the combination treatments towards S. epidermidis. The highest synergism effect (89%) was exhibited from the treatment of flowers-leaves and stems-leaves on S. epidermidis. All the combination treatments on both bacteria indicated an additive effect with the highest effects (78%) showed by the treatment of flowers-leaves, flowers-roots, and leaves-roots towards S. sonnei. However, indifferent and antagonisms effects could be observed only in the combination treatments against S. sonnei. The highest indifference (67%) and antagonisms (22%) effects on S. sonnei, each was exhibited by the treatment with stems-leaves and flowersstems respectively.

The different parts of Euphorbia hirta which are whole plants, flowers, stems, leaves and roots showed high antibacterial activity against two strains of bacteria namely Staphylococcus epidermidis and Shigella sonnei. In this present study, attempt was made to evaluate the pharmacodynamic properties of the different parts of E. hirta on those strains. The treatment of E. hirta extracts towards S. epidermidis and S. sonnei indicated the bactericidal activity in the kinetic study and significant PAE values on the treatment. Among E. hirta parts tested, whole plant extracts indicated fast killing effects via time-kill kinetics (kinetic study) for both strains. All the different parts of E. hirta extracts exhibited the significant PAE values (0.5 h and above) against strains tested. The kinetic study and PAE data basically indicated the stronger effect of E. hirta extracts toward S. epidermidis compared to S. sonnei.

Bacterial intercellular communication, or quorum sensing (QS), controls the pathogenesis of many medically important organisms. Anti-QS compounds have the ability to attenuate bacterial pathogenicity. The current quest for new antimicrobials aimed at discovering non-toxic inhibitors of QS from natural sources which can be used for the treatment of bacterial infections in human. The objective of this research is to study the anti-QS potential in some of local ulam commonly found in Malaysia. In this study, seven types of local ulam namely; Parkia speciosa, Cosmos cardatus, Centella asiatica, Manihot esculenta leaf sprigs, Psophocarpus tetragonolobus, Polygonum minus and Oenanthe javanica were tested on the anti-QS potentials in fresh (edible or macerated) forms and methanol extracts via biomonitor strain Chromabacterium violaceum ATCC 12472. This biomonitor strain has an ability to produce a purple pigment (violacein) under QS-control. The results exhibited the wide variation in the anti-QS activities on selected local ulam in fresh and methanol extract forms. The highest anti-QS activity was recorded by P. minus and C. asiatica extracts as the lowest of minimum QS inhibition concentration value (7.81 mg/ml) was indicated by both extracts respectively. This study introduces not only a new mode of action and possible validation for traditional plant use, but also a potentially new therapeutic direction for the treatment of bacterial infections.

Euphorbia hirta is an annual broad-leaved herb and widely used as traditional medicine to treat various ailments. This herb was tested on the anti quorum sensing (anti-QS) potentials in fresh (edible or macerated) forms and acetone extracts via biomonitor strain Chromabacterium violaceum (ATCC 12472). The biomonitor strain has an ability to produce purple pigment (violacein) under QS-control. The different parts of E. hirta extracts were then subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening using standard procedures and finally analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Preliminary screening on fresh parts of this herb revealed that leaves exhibited the highest anti-QS activities towards C. violaceum. The results also exhibited the wide variation in the anti-QS activities on whole plants, flowers, stems, leaves and roots of E. hirta from acetone extraction. The highest anti-QS activities were recorded by leaves and flowers extracts as the lowest of minimum QS inhibition concentration values (1.8906 mg/ml) were indicated by both extracts respectively. Phytochemical screening of E. hirta extracts revealed the presence of carbohydrates, lipids, protein, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, resins, steroids, acidic compounds, tannins, glycosides, phenols and terpenoids. The quantitave phytochemical assays via GC-MS indicated that this herb rich with fatty acids, terpenoids and phenolic compounds.