Journal Article

Antibacterial Activities of Bitter Kola on Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Bitter kola (Garcinia kola) is known mostly for its antimicrobial potentials. Resistance to drugs especially antibiotics has become a major challenge facing the medical fraternity today. These challenges call for renewed strategies on treatment, especially in the development of new antimicrobials using plant and its derivatives. The study was carried out to test for the antibacterial activity of bitter kola extracts on Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus collected from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria. The phytochemical screening performed on bitter kola extracts revealed the presence the followings saponins, alkaloid, flavonoid, glycoside, carbohydrate, anthraquinonones, unsaturated steroid, and tannins. The agar-well diffusion method was used to determine the inhibitory effect of bitter kola on the test microorganisms. Streptococcus pyogenes was most susceptible to ethanol extract of the bitter kola with an inhibition zone of 12 to 24mm, while Staphylococcus aureus was most susceptible to aqueous extract with an inhibition zone of 10-28mm. The aqueous extract exhibited activity against Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 50mg/ml and 25mg/ml respectively, while the ethanol extract showed activity against Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus with MIC values of 25mg/ml and 12.5mg/ml respectively. The extracts also showed bactericidal activity against both organisms. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) value of aqueous extract for Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus was 50mg/ml and 25mg/ml respectively, while the MBC value of the ethanol extract for Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus was 25mg/ml. The result of this study shows that bitter kola could be better option to some of the antibiotics commonly used to treat infections caused by Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus.

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