Abstract
Traditional healers have successfully used several species of the genus Ficus to cure several ailments such as; diarrhea, dysentery, cuts, wounds, mumps, cholera, and jaundice. Ficus natalensis being of the same genus was screened for the presence of phytochemicals and antimicrobial effects. Phytochemical investigation of crude extracts of F. natalensis showed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, saponins, tannins, glycosides, steroids, triterpenes and anthraquinones. The crude hexane, ethylacetate and methanol fractions had inhibitory effects on Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyrogenes, Escherichia coli, Candida krusei ,and Candida tropicalis. Minimum bactericidal/fungicidal concentrations (MBC)/(MFC) and Minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) were carried out on the extracts using the two fold serial dilution method at concentrations of 20 mg/mL, 10 mg/mL, 5 mg/mL, 2.5 mg/mL and 0.63 mg/mL but the crude extracts did not show inhibitory effect on Methicillin resistant Staphylococcusaureus, Shigeiladysenteriae, Vancomycin resistant enterococci, and Campylobacter jejuni.The result in this work agrees with the ethno-medicinal claim on this specie of the genus.Keywords: Ficusnatalensis (kraus); phytochemical screening, Minimum inhibitory concentration
Highlights
In recent years, there has been an increase in the resistance of pathogens against antibiotics
Phytochemical Screening: The preliminary phytochemicals screening of the plant Ficus natalensis showed the presence of carbohydrates and steroids in both hexane and ethylacetate extracts
Saponin, triterpenes, and flavonoids were present in the ethylacetate fraction while, tannins, cardiac glycosides and anthraquinones were absent in both extracts
Summary
There has been an increase in the resistance of pathogens against antibiotics. There is a serious threat to the effectiveness of many antibiotics by the resurfacing of microbial resistance to existing chemotherapeutic agents because of their haphazard and improper use (Cowan, 1999). Medicinal plants have been known to contain a number of effective antibacterials, antioxidants and anticancer agents which provide an alternative means of therapy to various infections caused by drug resistant bacteria, oxidative stress and dreadful diseases like cancer and other physiological disorders (Kambli et al, 2014). Ficus natalensis is of the family Moraceae It is generally known as the Natal fig. The plant is known for its medicinal uses by locals of Northern Nigeria as a herbal medicine for the treatment of cuts, diarrhea, dysentery, wounds, cholera and mumps. This study is aimed at screening the plant Ficus natalensis for phytochemicals and antimicrobial agents
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