Potential Antibacterial Activity of Milkfish (Chanos chanos) Bile Extract against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Fish is one of the popular health foods worldwide and has a huge medicinal importance. Several traditional medicinal practitioners claimed that bile content of fresh water fish may useful as antibiotic. Therefore, the present work was undertaken to evaluate the antibacterial activity of the bile content of Milkfish (Chanos chanos). The study manifested that the Milkfish bile extract was partially active against partially active on S. aureus and inactive on E. coli. There were no significant differences on the antibacterial activity among the three concentrations of Milkfish bile extract and the control drug against the two bacterial pathogens (E. coli and S. aureus). The results of this study have shown that bile contains some substances that can exert inhibitory effect on bacteria hence can be employed in the treatment of diseases caused by these groups of bacterial pathogens. To provide a more conclusive and convincing claim on the effect of Milkfish bile extract, it is recommended that Quantitative analysis be conducted using gas chromatography mass spectrum of the bile extract to accurately measure the different components; Further research studies can be continued to discover other wonder properties of this fish in promoting good health as an alternative medicine; and the use of other fishes may be investigated to determine the presence of bioactive components.