In Vitro Antibacterial activity of ethanolic extract of Myrsine africana against laboratory Strains of Pathogenic Organisms

Abstract

The determination of the antibacterial activity (zone of inhibition) and minimum inhibitory concentration of medicinal plants a crucial step in drug development. In this study, the antibacterial activity and minimum inhibitory concentration of the ethanol extract of Myrsine africana were determined for Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The zones of inhibition (mm±S.E) of 500mg/ml of M. africana ethanol extract were 22.00± 0.00 for E. coli,20.33 ±0.33 for B. cereus,25.00± 0.00 for S. epidermidis and 18. 17±0.17 for S. pneumoniae. The minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC) is the minimum dose required to inhibit growth a microorganism. Upon further double dilution of the 500mg/ml of M. africana extract, MIC was obtained for each organism. The MIC for E. coli, B. cereus, S. epidermidis and S. pneumoniae were 7.81mg/ml, 7.81mg/ml, 15.63mg/ml and 15.63mg/ml respectively. Crude extracts are considered active when they inhibit microorganisms with zones of inhibition of 8mm and above. Therefore, this study has shown that the ethanol extract of M. africana can control the growth of the four organisms tested.