Journal Article

Antibacterial and Toxicological Studies of Erythropleum suaveolens Crude Extracts on Some Pathogenic Bacteria

Abstract

The phytochemical screening, antibacterial activity and toxicological studies of leaf and stem- bark extract of Erythrophluem suaveolens was carried out using a standard method. The preliminary phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of secondary metabolites. The acetone, aqueous and methanolic leaf extract of E. suaveolens indicated the presence of alkaloid, glycoside, steroid, flavonoids, while tannin, saponin and terpens were absent. The stem-bark extracts revealed the presence of alkaloid, glycoside, tannin, saponin, while steroid and flavonoids were found to be absent. The antibacterial activities of the E .suaveolens extracts were assayed using agar well diffusion method. The bacterial isolates used were E. coli, K .pnumoniae, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. The leaf extract had appreciable inhibitory effect on all the test isolates at 10, 5.0, 2.5 and 1.25mg/ml, while stem-bark extract exert greater effect on all test isolates except K. pnuemoniae at various concentration (10, 5.0, 2.5, and 1.25mg/ml). The antibacterial activity of the plant extracts are less effective compared to the control (ciprofloxacin). The toxicological study (LD50) was conducted using fixed dose method. The toxic effect of both leaf and stem-bark extracts showed that 66.67% of the test animal died and only 33.33% survived at 3000mg/kg concentration. The activity of the plant extracts indicates that the plant can be used to treat some ailment associated with the test isolates. This study has also shown that the plant is not safe due to its toxic effect.  

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