Investigation on Antibacterial and Antifungal Activity of some Selected Medicinal Plants in Ethiopia
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Date
2018-06
Authors
Abebe Abiy
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Publisher
Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
Background: Cognizant of the fact that, there has been an alarming increase in the incidences ofinfectious diseases, emerging and re-emerging antibiotic resistance organisms; there is an urgentneed of novel antimicrobial compounds with new mode of action, effective and inexpensive. One potential source for the search of such agent is medicinal plants due to the presence of widerange secondary metabolites in their tissue.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial activity of 12 traditionallyused Ethiopian medicinal plants for their potency, spectrum of antibacterial, antifungal activityand acute toxicity.
Methods: Ethnobotanical literature survey was conducted to select 12 medicinal plants.Antimicrobial activities of 80% Ethanol extracts of all plants were investigated by agar welldiffusion techniques against 22 organisms. Agar dilution techniques were employed to determinethe Minimum Inhibitory, Bactericidal and Fungicidal Concentrations. The Oral acute toxicitystudy was determined on the most active plant extract B. abyssinica.
Results: Among investigated medicinal plants, B. abyssinica, X. strumarium, R. natalensis, Z.scabra, E. cymosa, C. abyssinica and S. abyssinica, showed strong antibacterial activity withinhibition zone ranging from 9-27 mm; while, B. abyssinica (42 mm) and X. strumarium (48mm) showed strong antifungal activity. The extracts of B. abyssinica showed most potentantimicrobial activity with MIC value ranging 0.250-16 mg/ml. Staphylococcus aureus was themost sensitive organism against B. abyssinica with MIC value of 0.25 mg/ml. Nevertheless, K.pneumoniae and Citrobacter species were the least sensitive bacteria with 16 mg/ml MIC andMBC value. T. mentagrophytes and T. rubrum were the most susceptible fungal organism to thetreatment of B. abyssinica, X. strumarium while, A. niger was the most resistant fungus. The LD50 of B. abyssinica was found to be 4103.175 mg/kg.
Conclusion: The majority of the plants tested showed promising antibacterial and antifungalpotency, especially on gram positive bacteria and dermatophytes. Furtherstudies arerecommended to explore in-vivo efficacy, mechanism of action and toxicological studies of the most promising plant.
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Keywords
Antibacterial, Antifungal, Medicinal Plant, B. abyssinica, MIC, Acute Toxicity