Antibacterial Activity of Moderately Volatile Components of the Oil Extracted From the Seeds of Dacryodes Edulis G. Lam

Abstract

Objectives: Dacryodes edulis is a versatile plant in many African countries, as its various parts are employed to treat several diseases. Like most plants used in traditional medicine, the possible mechanism by which D. edulis functions is still unknown. This study was designed to investigate the components of the plant seed with a view of justifying its use as traditional medicine.
 Methods: The seed oil of D. edulis was exhaustively extracted with a Soxhlet extractor from 500 g seeds and 200 g seeds of D. edulis using ethanol and petroleum ether as solvent, respectively. The extraction solvent was removed to obtain the oil which was then subjected to antimicrobial activity test to determine its activity against the following clinical isolates namely Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Escherichia coli using gentamycin as positive control. Phytochemical screening and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses were carried out following standard methods
 Results: Ethanolic extract resulted in a higher percentage of oil yield (11.6%) than petroleum ether (5.3%). D. edulis seed oil showed remarkable activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive isolates: E. coli, Bacillus spp, and S. aureus but not against P. aeruginosa. The presence of saponins, quinones, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, and phenol was confirmed during qualitative phytochemical screening, and the preliminary results from GC-MS analysis show the presence of terpinen-4-ol, 4,6,6-trimethyl bicyclo[3.1.1]hept-3-en-2-one, ethyl 14-methyl-hexadecanoate, methyl 19-methyl-eicosanoate, squalene, C-14 to C-18 fatty acids, and their esters.
 Conclusion: The study, therefore, confirms that the use of D. edulis as component of traditional medicine may be justified.

Antimicrobial Properties of Methanol Extract of Dacryodes edulis Seed and Determination of Phytochemical Composition Using FTIR and GCMS

“…2. The identified compounds were in line with report made by Mordi et al in 2019 [7] during similar investigation. The GCMS analysis of the methanol extract showed 44 peaks, and some of the peaks were selected due to Compound composition which was determined with GC-MS normalization result.…”

“…However, alkaloids and saponin were not detected. This result corresponds with an earlier report made by Mordi et al [7] when they assayed the ethanolic extract of the seed oil, the only difference is the presence of saponins which was not detected in the present study, and the difference may be attributed to difference in the solvent used. Meanwhile, the absence of saponin has also been observed in the aqueous extract reported by Omogbai and Eneh [16].…”

“…The flesh of the fruits is edible, meanwhile the seed, bark, leaves, stems, and roots are used as local medicine against some diseases. Locally, parts of the plant have been used to treat ringworm, wound, scabies, skin diseases, and inflammation [7]. In Nigeria, The resin of the plant is used for treating parasitic skin disease and Jiggers, while the pulped bark is used to cicatrize wounds.…”

“…In Nigeria, The resin of the plant is used for treating parasitic skin disease and Jiggers, while the pulped bark is used to cicatrize wounds. The leaves have been made into the plaster to treat snakebite in southwest Cameroon [7]. Extracts from the root and bark have been used for the treatment of leprosy and the bark and leaves are also boiled together and added to many traditional medicines for malaria treatment [8,9].…”

“…The results of phytochemical screening of the seed have shown the presence of Alkaloids, Tannins, Saponins, Cyanogen glycosides, Flavonoids, and Phytates [10]. Meanwhile, Mordi et al 2019, [7] has reported an investigation on the antibacterial activity of the seed oil of D. edulis extracted using ethanol and petroleum ether consequently, This research furthers the previous investigations made by Mordi et al [7] by screening for the antibacterial activity of methanolic extract of the seed and also determining the functional groups and identification of phytochemicals. The specific objectives of this research are to carry out crude extraction using methanol as a solvent, carry out phytochemical and antibacterial screenings of the seed extract and identify the functional groups and phytochemicals present.…”