Abstract

EVALUATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF LEAVES EXTRACT OF ALTERNANTHERA PARONYCHIOIDES LINN.

Florence Chukwudiebube*, Umar Khan, Chibundu Uzoma, Sundarrajan Thiruganasambandham and Godwin Odey Olim

ABSTRACT

Background: Medicinal plants have been identified and used throughout human history. Plants have the ability to synthesize a wide variety of chemical compounds that are used to perform important biological functions, and defend against attack from predators such as bacteria, insects, fungi and herbivorous mammals. Most of the herbal drugs have relatively low rates of side effects, phytopharmaceuticals with a large therapeutic index can therefore be considered to be safe drugs. The need for alternative sources of antimicrobial agents with low risk and high efficacy gave risk to this study. Objectives: The main objective of this study was to determine the antibacterial properties of the leave extract of Alternantheria paronychioides. Materials and Methods: The petroleum ether extract and ethanol extract of the leaves of Alternantheria paronychioides were obtained using standard extraction and fractionation techniques followed byphytochemical screening of the plant extract. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out using cup plate method; whereby agar plates were prepared. The cover of each of the plates were labeled with the name of their respective test organisms to be inoculated. The, 0.2 ml of the known concentration of inoculum was spread on the surface of the solidified agar (spread plate technique). The cups were made with help of sterile borer in the agar medium which is inoculated with bacterial strains. In each bore, the test sample of two different concentrations (100, 300ug/ml) were inoculated as well as the standard sample (tetracycline hydrochloride) with the aid of micropipette. The plates were kept for diffusion at +4°c for 1 hour and then incubated at 37°c for 24 hours. After incubation, the diameter of the zone of inhibition was measured. Results: Phytochemical screening indicated the presence of glycosides, flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins and phenols and carbohydrates in both leaves extracts. Diameter zone of inhibition with S. aureus at 300 μg/ml was 23 mm and 26 mm for petroleum ether extract and ethanol extract respectively. For E. coli, diameter zone of inhibition measured was 13 mm and 20 mm for petroleum ether extract and ethanol extract respectively. The standard sample had a diameter zone of inhibition of 32 mm. Conclusion: The study showed that the leaves extract of A. paronchioides Linn was found to have satisfactory antibacterial activity against two different microorganisms when compared with standard drug; tetracycline at 10 μg/ml concentration.

Keywords: Antimicrobial activity, Leaves extract, Alternanthera paronychioides.