Preliminary Phytochemical Screening and Antimicrobial Activities of Some Medicinal Plants Used In Ebiraland

Abstract

Dried leaves of Abrus precatorius, Desmodium ramosissimum, Scoparia dulcis and aerial parts of Phyllanthus amarus used in folkloric medicine of Ebiraland were extracted with hexane, methanol and water sequentially using soxhlet apparatus. The extracts were screened for antimicrobial activities against Bacillus subtilis, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans using the agar-cup diffusion protocol. All the extracts except the hexane extract of Abrus precatorius were active against at least two of the test microorganisms at the highest concentration of 100 mg/ml used in this study. The aqueous and methanolic extracts of Phyllanthus amarus were active against all the test microorganisms. The methanolic extract of Phyllanthus amarus also showed a broad spectrum of activity with a minimum inhibitory concentration (M.I.C.) of 1.56 mg/ml against all the test microorganisms. The extracts were also screened for secondary metabolites and the result indicated the presence of alkaloids, saponins, tannins and terpenoids. The results of this investigation, appears to justify the ethnomedicinal uses of these plants for the traditional treatment of infectious diseases. However, further investigation is required to obtain more information on their antimicrobial potentials and also to isolate their bioactive compounds. 
 
 Keywords: Medicinal plants, antimicrobial activity, minimum inhibitory concentration, phytochemical screening.

Synthesis, Biological and In Silico Studies of a Tripodal Schiff Base Derived from 2,4,6-Triamino-1,3,5-triazine and Its Trinuclear Dy(III), Er(III), and Gd(III) Salen Capped Complexes

“…The antimicrobial activities of all the synthesized compounds were determined by the agar cup diffusion technique [ 53 ]. The nutrient agar and SDA plates were inoculated with 0.1 mL broth culture of the test bacteria or fungi.…”

Phyllanthus amarus: Ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology: A review

“…The methanolic extract of P. amarus also showed a broad spectrum of activity with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 1.56 mg/mL against all the test microorganisms. The extracts were also screened for secondary metabolites and the result indicated the presence of alkaloids, saponins, tannins and terpenoids (Alli et al, 2011). The 80% methanolic extracts obtained from seven Phyllanthus sp.…”

In Vitro Anti-Leptospiral Activity of Phyllanthus amarus Extracts and Their Combinations with Antibiotics

“…Unlike our study, which found that P. amarus AE was more effective against L. interrogans than ME, other studies have reported that MEs are more effective than AEs against other bacteria, as well as fungi. MEs of aerial parts of the plant have shown more potent inhibitory effects against Bacillus subtilis , Escherichia coli , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Staphylococcus aureus , Salmonella serotype Typhi, and Candida albicans than AEs [ 26 ]. Similarly, Sen and Batra reported that aqueous leaf extracts exhibited minimal activity against B .…”

“…Previous studies have found slight differences in phytochemical contents between AEs and MEs. Phytochemical analyses of AEs have detected the presence of primary (carbohydrates, proteins, and amino acids) and secondary metabolites (anthraquinone, steroids, including phytosterols and cardiac glycosides, alkaloids, terpenoids, including triterpenes and saponins, phenolic compounds, including flavonoids and lignins, and tannins, specifically phlobatannins) [ 12 , 16 , 17 , 26 , 29 , 30 ]. Analyses of MEs have revealed the presence of carbohydrates, alkaloids, saponins, terpenoids (triterpenes), steroids (cardiac glycosides), phenolic compounds (flavonoids), and tannins (phlobatannins) [ 12 , 16 , 30 , 31 ].…”