Abstract
The current upsurge in resistance to conventional antibiotics, as well as high cost of orthodox medical treatment, called for the use of medicinal plants as an alternative therapy. This research was aimed at determining the antibacterial activity of Artocarpus heterophyllus seed extracts (Jackfruit as it is locally called) in the treatment of diarrhoea. Ethanolic and hexanolic seed crude extracts of the plant were screened for antidiarrhoeal activity against bacteria isolated from clinical samples (methicillin-resistant and susceptible Staphylococcus aureus, multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, ciprofloxacin-resistant Salmonella typhimurium, and third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Escherichia coli). Plant phytochemical screening was conducted using standard methods. The antibacterial activity was carried out using the agar well diffusion method and compared to the standard antibiotics ceftriaxone and vancomycin. The minimum inhibitory concentration was determined by the microbroth dilution method, whereas the minimum bactericidal concentration was determined by plating out from microtitre plates with no visible growth. The results of phytochemical screening revealed the presence of tannins, flavonoids, reducing sugars, cardiac glycosides, saponins, and steroids from the prepared crude extracts. The ethanolic and hexanolic extracts had activity on multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus with the mean and standard error zone of inhibition that ranged from 8.5 ± 0.5 to 16.5 ± 0.25 mm; however, the extracts were found not to have activity on resistant E. coli and Salmonella typhimurium. The ethanolic crude extract had the lowest MIC and MBC values of 31.25 and 125 mg/ml, respectively, compared to the hexane extract which had the MIC and MBC values of 62.50 and 250 mg/ml, respectively. This provides the evidence for its usage as an alternative herbal remedy for the treatment of diarrhoea caused by susceptible and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Highlights
Diarrhoea is the passage of three or more abnomally/increased amount of loose liquid stools per day which deviates from an individual’s usual pattern [1]
Study Design. is was a laboratory experimental study to determine the antibacterial activity of the crude ethanolic and hexane extracts of Artocarpus heterophyllus against selected diarrhoea-causing superbug bacteria. e test bacteria were acquired from the Microbiology laboratory at Kampala International University Teaching Hospital. e research was carried out in the Pharmacology and Microbiology laboratories at Kampala International University, western campus. e plant extracts were screened for phytochemicals present and assayed for the antibacterial activity, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) using the agar well diffusion and microbroth dilution methods, respectively
(S. aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Streptococcus faecalis) compared to Gramnegative bacteria (S. typhimurium, Shigella flexneri, P. aeruginosa, and E. coli). e authors showed that P. aeruginosa and E. coli had lower zones of inhibition. e present study findings were in line with study conducted by Sivagnanasundaram and Karunanayake [48] which revealed that E. coli was resistant to leaf extracts of Artocarpus heterophyllus. e resistance of Gram-negative bacteria used in this study could be due to the extract’s inability to penetrate the bacterial outer membrane. e findings ofthe present study were contrary to the findings reported by Sharma et al [47] who in their study showed that the Artocarpus heterophyllus crude leaf extract had broad-spectrum activity on both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria
Summary
Diarrhoea is the passage of three or more abnomally/increased amount of loose liquid stools per day which deviates from an individual’s usual pattern [1]. It is one of the main waterborne diseases considered to be endemic in many regions of the world and considered as a major health threat in both tropical and subtropical developing countries [2]. The gastrointestinal infections are the major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world and, e Scientific World Journal in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, with high rates of 17.9% [3] or 50 to 150 per 100,000 individuals [4] that manifest infectious diarrhoea. In Uganda, approximately 230,000 Ugandans including 19,700 children less than five years of age die each year from diarrhoea with nearly 90% of which is directly attributed to poor water sanitation and hygiene [7]. us, diarrhoeal infection remains a second global leading cause of infant mortality after pneumonia with 17% prevalence [8]
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