Evaluation of the <i>In-Vitro</i> Combined Antimicrobial Activities of Garcinia kola Heckel and Honey

Abstract

The antibacterial activities of Garcinia kola and honey were evaluated against pure cultures of Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa using the agar diffusion method. The combined antibacterial effects of various combination ratios of Garcinia kola extract and honey were further evaluated using a modified checkerboard method. Results show that Garcinia kola had minimum inhibitory concentration values of 0.25 mg/ml, 0.06 mg/ml and 0.25 mg/ml against S. aureus, B. subtilis and P. aeruginosa respectively while honey had MIC values of 1.8 mg/ml, 1.8 mg/ml and 0.45 mg/ml respectively. The results also showed higher sensitivity of the test isolates to a combination of Garcinia kola and honey than the individual agents. These results, therefore, indicate that combination of the Garcinia kola extract and honey could have some superior therapeutic benefits over the materials used singly.Keywords: Garcinia kola, honey, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis