Abstract

Alagwa D. Kenneth*, Imemesiri Friday and David West

Extracts of Gmelina arborea fruits have been locally used in Benue State, Nigeria by traditional practitioners for the treatment of wounds, sores, burns, vaginal discharges, etc. The antibacterial activity of Gmelina arborea fruit extracts (neat methanol and hexane) was investigated using the disk diffusion method. The test organisms were hospital/diagnostic laboratory isolates: Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli, Proteus morganis, Salmonella typhi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa obtained from wound swab, ear swab, stool and urine. Neat methanol extracts had the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.001 μg each implying greatest activity while hexane extract had the highest MIC (100.0 μg). The neat extract inhibited growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli and Proteus morganis. The methanol extract inhibited Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli, Proteus morganis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Hexane extract inhibited only Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The width of inhibition zone is highly concentration dependent. Preliminary pytochemical analysis of aqueous and methanol extracts revealed the presence of saponins, tannins, reducing sugar, steroids, flavonoids and glycosides respectively. The findings of this study support the tradi-medical use of the plant fruit on wounds and other bacterial infections in Nigeria.