Antimicrobial activity of <i>Moringa oleifera</i> leaf extracts on multiple drug resistant bacterial isolates from urine samples in Benin City

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the antibacterial effect of Moringa oleifera leaf extracts on selected multiple drug resistant (MDR) bacterial isolates. Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus were isolated urine samples from patients attending Lahor Research Medical Centre. Multiple drug resistant bacteria were generated from the isolates by carrying out antibiotic susceptibility testing using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique. Three isolates each from the multidrug resistant bacteria were selected and molecular characterization was performed for confirming microbial identity. The antibacterial activity of methanol, chloroform and aqueous leaf extracts of M. oleifera at different concentrations (6.25, 12.5, 25, 50 and 100 mg/ml) were analyzed on the selected MDR bacteria using agar disc diffusion method. M. oleifera leaf extracts were observed to inhibit the growth of multidrug resistant bacteria. The highest antibacterial activity 9.32±1.45 mm was observed with the chloroform extracts, while the lowest value of 0.27±0.27 mm was obtained for the aqueous leaf extract. The antibacterial activity examined in this study showed that chloroform and methanol M. oleifera leaf extracts are capable of exerting inhibitory effect on multidrug resistant bacteria. The results obtained in this study indicated that M. oleifera can be a potential source for the treatment of different infections caused by multiple drug resistant bacteria.

Keywords: Urine, Multidrug resistant bacteria, polymerase chain reaction, Moringa oleifera, antimicrobial