African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (6), pp. 522-526, June 2005          
ISSN 1684–5315 © 2005 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Antibacterial screening of the root, seed and stembark extracts of Picralima nitida

Nkere, C. K.¹* and Iroegbu, C. U.²

¹Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria.

²Department of Microbiology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.

^ǾCurrent Address: Department of Microbiology, Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike Abia State.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: nkerechukwuemeka@yahoo.com.

Accepted  9 March, 2005

Ethanol, benzene, chloroform and aqueous (cold and hot) extracts of Picralima nitida (seed, stembark and root) were tested against five bacterial strians using the agar-well diffusion method. The ethanol extracts of the root and stembark (Er and Esb) were active against 100% of the test organisms, repectively. The benzene and chloroform extracts exhibited no activity. Of the fifteen extracts teated, 40.0% were active against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 12600, 20.0% each against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 10145 and Escherichia coli ATCC 11775, 33.3% against Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6051 and 13.3% against Salmonella kintambo Human 1,13,23:mt: -. The MIC values for the ethanol extracts range from 6.25 to 50 mg/ml, while the MIC values for the cold water seed extract (CWs) was 50 mg/ml. The results provide a rationalization for the traditional use of P. nitida for the treatment of various diseases.

Key words:  Picralima nitida, ethnomedicine, phytochemical analysis, Nigeria.