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Preliminary phytochemical and antimicrobial screening of the leaves of <i>Byrsocarpus coccineus</i> Schum & Thonn (Connaraceae)


A A Ahmadu
I N Akpulu
H S Hassan
M I Sule
U U Pateh

Abstract



The leaf extracts of Byrsocarpus coccineus was evaluated for antimicrobial activity using agar diffusion assay. The results of the antimicrobial screening showed that the ethyl acetate fraction at 200mg/ml produced zones of inhibition ranging from 22.5 to 35mm against the test organisms while the minimum inhibitory concentration of the fraction were 1.75mg/ml, 1.75mg/ml, 0.88mg/ml and 0.44mg/ml against Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus respectively. The n-butanolic fraction gave MIC of 7.0mg/ml, 7.0mg/ml, 1.75mg/ml and 1.75mg/ml against E. coli, Staph. aureus, C. albicans and S. typhi respectively. The extracts exhibited good antimicrobial activity with the ethyl acetate fraction showing more activity than the n-butanol fractions. The gram positive bacteria are more susceptible to the extracts than the gram negative bacteria. Results of the phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids, tannins on both fractions while saponin was present only in the n-butanol fraction. The microbial activity of the two fractions can be explained by the presence of these secondary metabolites.

Keywords: Byrsocarpus coccineus; Antimicrobial studies; Phytochemical screening

Journal of Pharmacy and Bioresources Vol. 3 (2) 2006: pp. 107-110

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eISSN: 0189-8442