Indigenous Knowledge Affords Antimicrobial Plants for the Management of Infections

Aim: The research was carried out to ascertain the antimicrobial effect of the plants Omphalocarpum ahia, Homalium letestui, and Coelocaryon oxycarpum, which are used locally to treat some infectious diseases.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana and Department of Herbal Medicine, KNUST, Ghana from June to August 2014.

Method: The stem barks of the plants were extracted with 70 % methanol and successively partitioned with petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, methanol to obtain three different fractions. The antimicrobial activities of the extracts and fraction against MRSA, S. typhi, E. coli, S. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, E. faecalis, and S. aureus were determined using the disk diffusion method and the minimum inhibition concentration by the serial microplate dilution method with 0.2 mg/ml p-iodonitrotetrazolium as growth indicator whereas gentamycin was used as the positive control. Phytochemical tests on the plant materials were done according to standard methods.

Result: All the fractions of each plant had activity against some of the bacteria. Ethyl acetate (EA) and hydro-methanolic (CE) extracts of Coelocaryon oxycarpum exhibited activity against all selected bacteria with MIC ranging from 0.625-5 mg/ml for CE and 0.3125-5 mg/ml for EA. Hydro-methanolic (CE) extracts of Omphalocarpum ahia also exhibited antibacterial activity against all the selected bacteria.

Conclusion: The current research showed that Omphalocarpum ahia and Coelocaryon oxycarpum have considerable antimicrobial activity against all the strains used in the study. Local knowledge may afford lead materials for the development of novel antimicrobial agents.