ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF THE LEAF EXTRACTS OF Solanecio biafrae AGAINST SOME SELECTED CLINICAL ISOLATES

An average Nigerian household consumes vegetables of various kinds but are ignorant of their antibacterial properties and other benefits. There is also an increase in the prevalence of multidrug resistant strains of bacteria which has raised the spectra of untreatable bacterial infections. This challenge has requested for urgency to search for new infection-fighting strategies. This study therefore investigated the antibacterial activities of the ethanolic and acetonic leaf extracts of Solanecio biafrae against some selected clinical isolates. Agar well diffusion technique was used for the antibacterial susceptibility testing of the microbial isolates and the minimum inhibitory concentration was tested using tube broth dilution method. The zones of inhibition of the ethanolic leaf extract of Solanecio biafrae for Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Acinetobacter baumanii, Acinetobacter haemolyticus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter agglomerans, Escherichia coli, Citrobacter youngae, Yersinia pestis and Klebsiella oxytoca were considerably high. Acinetobacter baumanii was the most susceptible organism to the extract (35.0mm at 200mg/ml). A. baumanii, A. haemolyticus, P. aeruginosa and E. agglomerans were the most susceptible organisms to the acetonic leaf extract of S. biafrae (20.0mm at 200mg/ml). Saponin, tannin, flavonoid, alkaloid, terpenoid, steroid and cardiac glycoside were all present in the ethanolic extract of S. biafrae. Alkaloid however was absent for the acetonic extract of S. biafrae. Carbohydrate, crude ash, crude fat, crude protein, crude fibre and moisture contents were all present in different quantities in the two extracts. The susceptibility of A. baumanii, E. coli and Y. pestis was dependent on the permeability of their cell walls to the plant extracts. The polarity of the extracting solvents and the concentration of the extracts contributed greatly to the antibacterial activities exerted by the plant extracts. The plant used for this study is a potential antibacterial agent and more research should be carried out to evaluate its in vivo efficacy and possible toxicity.