Antibacterial Properties Of The Stembark Extracts Of Picralima Nitida (Stapf) Th. And Hel. Dur. (Akuamma Plant):- Nkere, Chukwuemeka K

ABSTRACT

The antibacterial activity of the alcohol extract of the stembark ofPicralima nitida was one another. Both the MBC and kill-rate study tested against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC12600, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC10145, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6051, Escherichia coli ATCC 11775, Salmonella kintambo Human 1,13,23 mt: - and three clinical isolates. The antibacterial assay was by both the agar-well diffusion and macro-broth dilution methods. Separation of the crude extract by column chromatography yielded six fractions of which, all contained alkaloid except Fi. The spectra of activity for the crude extract and active fractions was 50% each, with no apparent activity recorded against the clinical isolates. Fractions Fi and F5 exhibited no antibacterial activity. The control drug, Gentamicin had 62.5% spectrum of activity. There was significant difference (p<0.05) in antibacterial activity between the crude extract and its fractions, with F2 exhibiting the highest antibacterial activity. The , MIC range for the crude was 25-50mg/ml; F2, 3.125-50mg/ml; F3, 1.563-50mg/ml and Fe, 3.125-50mg/ml. The combined activity of the fractions showed that the active components might be antagonistic to show that the partially purified fractions had higher bactericidal effect as compared to the crude extract. The level of activity was the same (62.5%) for each of the root, stembark and seed extracts. These results provide scientific justification for the use of locally distilled alcohol, as solvent for most herbal preparations.