An in Vitro Study of the Antibacterial Properties of Selected Plant Species Found in Adamawa State, Nigeria.
Abstract
The activity of plant extracts compared to a known (ampicillin) was evaluated against ten gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria which can infect .
In addition, the efficacies of different methods were studied. Soxhlet, cold , and hot aqueous extractions were used in this study.
Moreover, extracts from the following plants were utilized: Zingiber officinale (ginger); and the leaves of Agave americana (agave), Musa acuminata (banana), Mangifera indica (mango), Azadirachta indica (neem), and Eucalyptus sp. (Eucalyptus).
The most antibacterial activities were observed for the extracts of Eucalyptus sp. and Mangifera indica, which inhibited 60% and 50% of the tested bacterial species, respectively.
There was significant activity against gram-positive bacteria. Agave and banana extracts, on the other hand, did not demonstrate any antibacterial activity.
The most susceptible species of bacteria tested was Micrococcus luteus with a total of 8 out of 17 different plant/preparation combinations affecting it.
Introduction
Background Of Study
There has been a rise in antibiotic resistant bacteria over the last decade. This is mainly due to the mainstream misuse of them.
What’s more is that these strains of bacteria are found where the most vulnerable people in communities are, hospitals (Wilson, et al. 2011).
The combination of weak host defenses and drug-resistant bacteria has led scientists to explore new options in antimicrobial therapy.
One of these options is the plant kingdom. For millennia, plants have been used and marketed in one way or the other for a perceived ability to cure diseases.
In fact, 60,000 years ago, a plant called hollyhock was used for medicine by Neanderthals living in present-day Iraq (Cowan 1999).
However, substantial scientific research has not been conducted in the investigation of antibacterial activity expressed by plants.
Plants have many advantages. They are abundant, sustainable, and it is relatively easy and inexpensive to extract potentially active compounds from them.
By broad definition an antimicrobial can be said to be any substance that antagonizes the proliferation of microbes.
“Microbe” is a general term which includes various viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoan parasites – which may not necessarily be harmful to humans. A more accurate term to describe harmful microbes is “pathogen”.
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