Assessment of antimicrobial and invitro antacid activities of kolakhar: an indigenous herbal soda of Assam, India

Pallab Kalita, Saikat Sen, Chandi Charan Kandar

a. Department of Pharmacy, Assam down town University, Guwahati, Assam, India b. Institute of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Jalpaiguri, W.B, India

ABSTRACT

Kolakhar (KK) is a traditionally used soda of Assam. KK is widely used as a detergent or soaps from ancient time to wash cloths and hair. In the rural part of Assam, KK is familiar to treat stomach disorder, respiratory tract disorder and as an antibacterial agents. It is also used as pesticides in different agricultural fields. The present study investigates the antimicrobial and antacid effect of the kolakhar by using disc diffusion method and a modified artificial stomach model. The observation of antimicrobial activity, kolakhar on human pathogenic species using disc diffusion method showed that the kolakhar have more impact on S. aureus (21.33 mm). The neutralisation effect, duration of neutralisation effect and capacity were found to be higher for kolakhar than sodium bicarbonate.

Keywords: kolakhar, traditionally, antacid, antimicrobial.