Preliminary antimicrobial activities of extracts of alchornea cordifolia, nauclea latifolia and spondias mombin against antibiotic-resistant pseudomonas aeruginosa and some other pathogenic bacteria

Abstract

Ethanolic and aqueous extracts of three local medicinal plants viz Alchornea cordifolia, Nauclea latifolia and Spondias mombin were screened against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhi. The results reveal that ethanolic extract of A. cordifolia showed activity against P. aeruginosa, E coli and S .typhi with mean minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 2.733, 2.887 and 0.602 mg/ml respectively, while its aqueous extract was active against S .typhi only, (MIC 0.912 mg/ml). Ethanolic extract of S. mombin was only active against S. typhi (MIC 1.445 mg/ml) while its aqueous extract exhibited activity against S. aureus and S. typhi with MIC values of 0.622 and 1.514 mg/ml respectively. Results of Independent Samples t-test infer that there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the susceptibilities to the plant extracts between antibiotic-resistant and sensitive P. aeruginosa. These findings underscore the possibility of using A. cordifolia and S. mombin extracts in developing alternative drugs for cases of drug resistance in infections caused by S. aureus and S. typhi