IN VITRO ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF MYRSINE AFRICANA AGAINST LABORATORY STRAINS OF PATHOGENIC ORGANISMS
Date
2016-03Author
Obey, Jackie K
Anthoney, Swamy T
Lasiti, Timothy
Makani, Rachel
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The determination of the antibacterial activity (zone of inhibition) and minimum inhibitory
concentration of medicinal plants a crucial step in drug development. In this study, the antibacterial activity
and minimum inhibitory concentration of the ethanol extract of Myrsine africana were determined for
Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The zones of inhibition
(mm±S.E) of 500mg/ml of M. africana ethanol extract were 22.00± 0.00 for E. coli,20.33 ±0.33 for B.
cereus,25.00± 0.00 for S. epidermidis and 18. 17±0.17 for S. pneumoniae. The minimum inhibitory
concentration(MIC) is the minimum dose required to inhibit growth a microorganism. Upon further double
dilution of the 500mg/ml of M. africana extract, MIC was obtained for each organism. The MIC for E. coli,
B. cereus, S. epidermidis and S. pneumoniae were 7.81mg/ml, 7.81mg/ml, 15.63mg/ml and 15.63mg/ml
respectively. Crude extracts are considered active when they inhibit microorganisms with zones of
inhibition of 8mm and above. Therefore, this study has shown that the ethanol extract of M. africana can
control the growth of the four organisms tested.