African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (22), pp. 2502-2505, 19 November 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Antibacterial potentials of aqueous extract of Enantia chlorantha stem bark

Ayoade Abdulfatai Adesokan¹*, Musbau Adewumi Akanji² and Musa Toyin Yakubu²

¹Medical Biochemistry Unit, College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, P.M.B 1515, Ilorin, Nigeria.

²Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: adesokan­_ayoade@yahoo.com. Tel: +2348033608498.

Accepted 2 November, 2007

The antibacterial potentials of aqueous extract of Enantia chlorantha stem bark at varying concentrations of 50, 100 and 150 mg/ml was investigated by measuring the zones of inhibition produced after incubation on nutrient agar. Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus substilis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhymurium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were used as test organisms. The results revealed that the zones of inhibition on the bacterial isolates increased (P < 0.05) as the concentration of the plant extract increased. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration produced by the extract on the gram positive bacteria were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than the gram negative bacteria. The results revealed that the aqueous extract of Enantia chlorantha stem bark possessed antibacterial activities on the clinical isolates with more antibacterial effect on the gram-positive than the gram-negative bacteria. The identified alkaloids might be responsible for the antibacterial activities.

Key words: Antibacterial potentials, aqueous extracts, alkaloids, Enantia chlorantha.