Phytochemical and antimicrobial screening of the crude extracts from the root, stem bark and leaves of Vitellaria paradoxa (GAERTN. F)

Abstract

The root, stem and leaves of Vitellaria paradoxa, belonging to the Sapotaceae family and which have some ethnomedicinal applications were studied. Phytochemical screening of the plant parts reveals the presence of carbohydrates (free reducing sugars, ketoses, pentoses and starch), saponins, steroids, tannins and alkaloids. The antimicrobial screening of the crude methanol extract carried out in vitro on the following clinical isolates; Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pnuemoniae and Salmonella typhi showed that the crude methanol extracts had wider range of activity on these organisms than the petroleum ether extracts. The crude stem extracts inhibited the growth of P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae, B. cereus and S. typhi at concentration of 50 mg/ml while the leaf had a minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) of 70 mg/ml on S. aureus, E. coli and S. typhi. The root had an MIC of 60 mg/ml on S. aureus, E. coli, P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae and S. typhi. The MBC in all the cases were slightly higher than the MIC and was lowest in the stem extracts which indicates that the stem bark may contain the most active components.

In Vitro and In Vivo Activity of Selected Plant Crude Extracts and Fractions Against Penicillium Italicum

“…The zone of inhibition was measured in two directions at right angles to each other. Experiments were carried out with three replicates per treatment and each treatment was repeated at least twice (Ndukwe et al 2006).…”

“…Plant material was dried in the shade, ground to a fine powder in liquid nitrogen and extracted (48 h) with absolute ethanol in a soxhlet apparatus (Ndukwe et al 2006). The solvent was removed using rotary evaporator (Heidolph, VV2000) under reduced pressure at temperatures below 50°C.…”

In vitro antimicrobial activity of leaf extract of Berlina grandiflora Hutch. and Dalz.

“…Nutrient agar method as described by (Ndukwe et al, 2007) was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extract. The nutrient agar solution was prepared according to the manufacturer's standard.…”

“…This plant based traditional medicine system continues to play essential role in health care, with about 80% of individuals from developed countries relying mainly on traditional medicines for their primary health care (Nascimento et al, 2000;Owolabi et al, 2007). The plants are usually ingested as decoctions and teas or used as spices in the preparation of local delicacies (Okafor, 1975 establishing their potential antimicrobial effects and identifying the compounds responsible for the antimicrobial properties (Abinu et al, 2007;Ndukwe et al, 2007).…”

Phytochemical and antimicrobial properties of the methanolic extracts of <i>Bombax buonopozense</i> leaf and root

“…Researchers are increasingly becoming involved in the screening of such plants with the aim of establishing their potential antimicrobial effects and identifying the compounds responsible for their antimicrobial properties 3,4 .…”