Preliminary phytochemical and antimicrobial studies of the extracts and fraction of Acacia gourmaensis A. Chev. (Fabaceae-Mimosoideae)
The stem bark extracts and fraction of the plant Acacia gourmaensis, of the family Fabaceae, locally known as Anaka in Igala, Kaya yawo in Hausa, used in ethno-medicine for the treatment of convulsion, arthritis, jaundice, cancer, malaria, cough, rheumatism, lumbago, muscular/body pains, as well as in treatments of eye, ear, oral and pulmonary infections, management of snake bites and food poisoning in West African countries particularly Nigeria was investigated for its phytochemicals and antimicrobial activities. The preliminary phytochemical screening of the dichloromethane extract (DCM-E) revealed the presence of carbohydrates, fixed oils/fats, flavonoids, sterols and terpenes. The preliminary phytochemical screening of the methanol extract (MeOH-E) revealed the presence of alkaloids, carbohydrates, fixed oils/fats, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, sterols, tannins and terpenes while the phytochemical screening of the ethyl acetate fraction (EA-F) also revealed the presence of carbohydrates, flavonoids, fixed oils/fats, sterols and terpenes. The antimicrobial activity was carried out using agar cup and plate diffusion method. The organisms tested were hospital isolates of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Corynebacterium ulcerans, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Campylobacter jejuni, Helicobacter pylori, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vettgeri, Candida albicans, the result of the antimicrobial susceptibility test showed that both extracts and the fraction were active against five of the ten organisms with zones of inhibition ranging from 22 – 25 mm for MeOH–E, 23 – 26 mm for DCM-E and 26 – 28 mm for EA-F, while the zone of inhibition for the standard drugs ciprofloxacin 30µg/ml, Sparfloxacin 30µg/ml and fluconazole 30µg/ml were 32 – 37 mm, 32 – 37 mm and 0 – 35 mm respectively. The findings in this study showed that the extracts and fraction of the A. goumaensis contain phytochemical constituents with antimicrobial activity which necessitated or validated the use in traditional medicine.
Keywords: Acacia gourmaensis, antimicrobial, phytochemical, zones of inhibition
*Correspondence: pharmechufa@yahoo.com, +234 802 572 6554
Download Paper