PRELIMINARY ANTIMICROBIAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF THE AQUEOUS, ALCHOLIC AND CHLOROFORM EXTRACTS OF THE LEAVES OF NAPOLEONAEA VOGELLI HOOK. AND PLANCH. (LECYTHIDIACEAE)

Abstract

The antimicrobial activity and phytochemical analysis of Napoleonaea vogelli P. Beauv. {Lecythidiaceae} was done using aqueous, ethanol, methanol and chloroform leaf extracts to determine its antimicrobial and phytochemical constituents. The antimicrobial activities of the extracts were tested against bacteria and fungi isolates using the agar well diffusion method. Commercial antibiotics were used as positive reference standards to determine the sensitivity of the isolates. The leaf extracts of the plant were subjected to phytochemical analysis using standard experimental procedures. The extracts showed significant inhibitory activity against the test microbial isolates: Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Penicillum notatum, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans. The MIC values obtained using the Agar-dilution test ranged from 0.5-10mg/ml. The results demonstrated that the extracts of the leaves (N. vogelli) possess broad spectrum antimicrobial activity. These results suggest that it will be useful in the treatment of microbial infections.