ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF Dichrostachys glomerata ON BACTERIAL ISOLATES FROM WOUNDS IN PATIENTS ATTENDING UNIVERSITY OF BENIN TEACHING HOSPITAL(UBTH),BENIN CITY, NIGERIA

Abstract

The increasing emergence of multidrug resistant(MDR) phenotypes poses a major health problem in the treatment of bacterial infections worldwide .The phytochemical and antibacterial properties of Dichrostachys glomerata extract against wound infection isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis and Candida albicans were studied. Fresh plant leaves were collected from the orchard of the College of Medical Sciences, University of Benin, Nigeria and identified in the Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology in University of Benin. The phytochemical analysis of the dried leaves was carried out using standard tests. The antibiotic susceptibility test was done by the disc diffusion method on Mueller-Hiinton agar using commercially available antibiotics disc .The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined with graded concentrations of oxacillin in Mueller-Hinton agar .Results showed the presence alkaloids, carbohydrate, saponin, flavonoids, phenols and anthraquinone derivatives in the leaves. The susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis to the various extract (99 % methanol, chloroform and ethyl acetate ) showed mean zone of inhibition of 22.2 ±0.1 mm for methanol, 14.3± 0.01 mm for Chloroform and 14.6 ± -1.5mm for ethyl acetate. No antimicrobial activity was observed for petroleum ether extract. The MIC ranged from 24 -40 mg/ml. The overall results provide information for the possible use of the extract of Dichrostachys glomerata in the control of bacterial infections,especially those involving multiple drug resistance.