Antimicrobial Potency of Extracts from Selected Medicinal Plants towards Escherichia Coli, Klebsiella Pneumoniae and Pseudomonas Aeruginosa.

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance has become a very big threat to the existing first line antibiotics. Some
of the infectious pathogens are becoming multidrug resistant including Mycobacterium
tuberculosis. This has necessitated social, scientific and financial interventions from key
players. The strain this puts on the fragile health care systems of developing nations is
frustrating. Scientific interventions have involved campaigns for improved hygiene, use of
combination therapies and revived search for new drugs with different modes of action.
It is on this basis that this research was conducted as phase I into the search for antibiotic
agents from nature. This was done by screening several plant extracts to identify bioactive
extracts that can be developed into drugs or purified for better active single molecules in the
second phase. Extracts were obtained by cold percolation of pulverized samples of different
dried plant parts using different mono-solvents. Agar diffusion and froth floatation were
used to measure the potency of the extracts. Many of the screened extracts had good to
moderate activities. Five of the plant species; Zanthoxylum chalybeum and gilletii, Diospyros
abyssinica, Prunus africana, Peptadeniastrum africana and Blighia unijugata showed very
promising activities (1.9 to 9.4 mg/mL) against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and
Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The other species had moderate activity (10.6 to 47.5 mg/mL).
The species (Albizzia coriaria, Maytenus senegalense and Kigellia africana) that inspired
this research from literature only demonstrated moderate activity against all the tested
organisms, probably due to antagonistic effect of the active compounds within the extracts.
In conclusion, Z. chalybeum and gilletii, D. abyssinica, P. africana, Peptadeniastrum. africana
and B. unijugata have a very strong potential for drug development and are recommended
for use in the management of infections caused by the tested microbes and purification to
isolate the individual active compounds for better formulation, standardization and drug
acceptability.