Studies On The Antibacterial Activities Of Medicinal Plants On Typhoid Fever Organism
T Ayogu, E Amadi
Keywords
extract combination, plant material, resistance, test organism
Citation
T Ayogu, E Amadi. Studies On The Antibacterial Activities Of Medicinal Plants On Typhoid Fever Organism. The Internet Journal of Third World Medicine. 2008 Volume 7 Number 2.
Abstract
The antibacterial effect of raw, aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Allium sativum (garlic), Zingiber officinale (ginger) and Moringa oleifera (drumstick tree) on Salmonella typhi isolate, was investigated using the agar well diffusion method. The result of the study showed that raw Allium sativum and ethanolic extracts of Allium sativum and Zingiber officinale have inhibitory activity against the test organism. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranged from 0.05-0.1g/ml(ml/ml). The inhibition zone diameter produced by the combinations of raw Allium sativum and Zingiber officinale as well as their ethanolic extracts were not enhanced, compared with their single activities against the test organism. Further exploitation of these two plant materials is hereby emphasized.
Introduction
Typhoid fever has remained a major scourge affecting most developing nations such as Nigeria, besides malaria. Typhoid fever causes an estimated 16.6 million cases and 600,000 deaths worldwide each year (WHO, 2003). Consequent on the current emergence and re-emergence of resistant strains of most microorganisms, coupled with side effects of most conventional drugs, interest in the use of plant and plant products in the management of aliments is increasing. Indeed, nature has remained a veritable source of medicinal agents since ancient times (Babayi et al., 2004). Although the
Materials And Methods
Collection and Identification of plant materials
The plant materials including garlic (
Test Organism
Pure culture of
Preparation and Extraction of Plant Materials
Fresh plant extraction
The bulbs of garlic, rhizomes of ginger and leaves of drumstick were washed with distilled water. The outer coverings of garlic and ginger were removed using sharp knife disinfected with 75% ethanol. They were subsequently cut into small pieces and respectively crushed using pestle and mortar. About 2ml of juice were expressed respectively from each crushed plant material into sterile bijou bottles using a sieve. The extractions were done two hours before the commencement of sensitivity test.
Dried plant extraction
Washed garlic bulbs and ginger rhizomes were cut into small pieces using a sharp knife and dried under mild sunlight. Also, washed drumstick leaves were dried at room temperature. They were respectively ground into powder using pestle and mortar.
Exactly 20g of each of the pulverized garlic, ginger and drumstick were respectively introduced into 100ml of cold distilled water, boiled distilled water (boiled for 15minutes) and 95% ethanol. They were constantly agitated at 1hour intervals for 6 hours and then left for 24hours. Subsequently, they were filtered into clean containers using Whattman's No. 1 filter paper. The filtrates were dried to powder using a water bath at 40oC.
Antibacterial Screening
Results
Preliminary Screening of plant Materials
The preliminary screening of the extracts showed that raw extract of garlic and ethanolic extracts of garlic and ginger separately produced inhibitory activity against the test organism. All the extracts of the drumstick did not produce evidence of inhibitory activity against the
Determination of the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC)
The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of raw garlic against the test organism was 0.05ml/ml, while that of the ethanolic extracts of garlic and ginger were 0.1g/ml and 0.05g/ml respectively. (Tables 1 and 2).
KEY : NI - No Inhibition
Discussion
The result of this study showed that of all the raw extracts screened, only that of garlic exhibited inhibitory activity against the test organism. This is in conformity with the work of Gomaa and Hashish (2003), in which the inhibitory property of fresh garlic on the growth of some microorganisms including
The result of the present investigation emphasizes the usefulness of
Although the combination of the two ethanolic extracts at 0.8g/ml could not produce enhanced IZD, it may not be certain whether the combination of their specific ingredients would yield the same result. Consequently, further studies on the active ingredients of the two plant materials possessing anti-
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to Mr. Nzenwata, C.D and the laboratory staff of Applied Microbiology Department, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, for their worthy contributions. The Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology Laboratory, National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria is also appreciated for their assistance in providing us with the pure culture of our test isolate.