Abstract
BackgroundFour out of five individuals rely on traditional medicine for their primary healthcare needs. Medicinal plants are endowed with diverse bioactive compounds to treat multidrug-resistant (MDR) microbes. So far, a less thorough examination has been made in this regard. This study aimed to evaluate antimicrobial activity and phytochemical screening of selected medicinal plants against MDR microbes.MethodsIn vitro experimental study was carried out to evaluate antimicrobial effects and phytochemical screening of Rumex abyssinicus, Cucumis pustulatus, Discopodium penninervium, Lippia adoensis, Euphorbia depauperata, Cirsium englerianum, and Polysphaeria aethiopica against MDR bacteria and fungi. Aqueous and 80% methanolic extraction methods were employed for extraction. The susceptibility test, minimum inhibitory concentration, and minimum bactericidal or fungicidal concentration were measured using disc diffusion or broth micro-dilution as per the CLSI protocols.ResultThe 80% methanolic extraction method was a preferred method to aqueous. The phytochemical constituents identified were alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, phenolic, tannins, terpenoidss, and cardiac glycosides. The hydroalcoholic extract demonstrated an appreciable antimicrobial role against MDR microbes with an MIC value of 1.0–128.0μg/ml and 11-29mm inhibition zone (IZ) in diameter. Extracts obtained from C. englerianum and E. depauperata showed a significant IZ ranged of 26-29mm on MRSA and Streptococcus pyogenes. MDR E. coli and K. pneumoniae showed 12-25mm and 23-28mm IZ in diameter, respectively. T. mentagraphytes was susceptible to all tested extracts. Moreover, S. pyogenes and K. pneumoniae were found the most susceptible bacteria to C. englerianum. Cirsium englerianum, L. adoensis, D. penninervium, and R. abyssinicus demonstrated remarkable antifungal effect against C. albicans and T. mentagrophytes, while R. abyssinicus showed the leading antifungal effect with 32 to 64μg/ml MIC values.ConclusionThe plant extracts have shown appreciable antimicrobial activities comparable to the currently prescribed modern drugs tested. Accordingly, further studies on clinical efficacy trial, safety, toxicity and affordability analyses have to be instigated promptly, so as to head to the final step to synthesize precursor molecules for new effective antimicrobials.
Highlights
Natural medicines have been used to boost health since the time of immemorial and the success of modern medical science largely depends on drugs originally obtained from natural resources
Out of the 17 peasant associations, the medicinal plants were collected from seven peasant associations of Berbere district based on the profundity of traditional knowledge generated during the pilot study interview; namely Burkitu (Lippia adoensis), Chekata (Polysphaeria aethiopica), Darasa (Cucumis pustulatus), Gabe Keka (Discopodium penninervium), Gora Heddo (Rumex abyssinicus), Harawa (Cirsium englerianum), and Sirrima (Euphorbia depauperate)
The dried and powdered leaves of P. aethiopica, C. englerianum, E. depauperata, L. adoensis, D. penninervium, and root of C. pustulatus and R. abyssinicus were extracted with 80% methanol and screened for their antibacterial and antifungal activities against human pathogens
Summary
Natural medicines have been used to boost health since the time of immemorial and the success of modern medical science largely depends on drugs originally obtained from natural resources. The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria has further compromised the accessibility and affordability of many currently prescribed antibiotics worldwide [3,4,5] As a result, it reduces the effectiveness of the treatment regimens and increases morbidity, mortality, and health care costs [6,7,8]. If there were no successful efforts to intervene in terms of looking for new drugs, the number of deaths will rise to ten million and costs the world up to $100 trillion by the year 2050 [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16] To this effect, the search for an innovative antibiotic from natural products is an important segment of modern medicine to overcome the socio-economic and health impact caused by multidrug-resistant microbes [17]. This study aimed to evaluate antimicrobial activity and phytochemical screening of selected medicinal plants against MDR microbes
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