Antibacterial, Antifungal And Phytochemical Screening Of The Plant Species Lannea Schweinfurthii (Engl.) Engl.

Herbal medicine has been widely used and forms an integral part of primary health care in most countries. Of late, despite emphasis being put in research of synthetic drugs; interest in medicinal plants has been reborn. This is due to the rapidly growing population, the failure of modern medicine to provide effective treatment, increase in chronic diseases and the emergence of the multi-drug resistant pathogens. It is of importance to establish a scientific basis for the use and validation of medicinal plants through biological screening. Phytochemicals are currently receiving more attention dueto their effectiveness in the treatment of infectious diseases as well as mitigating many of the side effects caused by conventional antimicrobials. Pharmacological studies of Lannea schweinfurthii (Engl.) Engl. has revealed antimicrobial property of the plant but very little has been reported about the active ingredients in the plant. In this study the stem bark of L. schweinfurthii (Engl.) Engl. was collected, air-dried and ground into a fine powder. Sequential extraction was done with hexane, dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and methanol (MeOH). The crude extracts were subjected to bioassay screening for their antibacterial activity against selected strains of bacteria, including Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtillis and Gram negative Pseudomona aeruginosa and Escherichia coli and antifungal activities against Candida albicans. Moderate and high activities, ranging from 11 to 21 mm inhibition zones, were observed for EtOAc and MeOH crude extracts against the microbes used except P. aeruginosa. Hexane and DCM crude extracts showed mild activity of 7 mm.