COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF LEAF EXTRACTS OF Bryophyllum pinnatum AND Newbouldia laevis ON CLINICAL ISOLATES FROM WOUND INFECTION

Background: Bryophyllum pinnatum and Newbouldia laevis are plant species that have been used in traditional herbal medicine for internal and external treatments in Nigeria. While Bryophyllum pinnatum has been applied in the treatments of burns and scalds, boils, abscesses, gastric ulcers, wound, insect bites, lithiasis, edema of leg and other diseases, Newbouldia laevis has medicinal value ranging from anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-microbial, anti-fungi, analgesic and wound healing properties.

Aim of the Study: To isolate bacterial organisms from wounds, and to comparatively screen the in vitro antibacterial activities of the extracts from the leaves of Bryophyllum pinnatum and Newbouldia laevis on the clinical isolates from wound infection.

Materials and Methods: Solvents used in leave extraction include ethanol, ethyl acetate and water. The extracts were tested against five organisms; Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella species, Streptococcus pyogenes, Bacillus species, and Corynebacterium species isolated from wounds. Phytochemical analyses of the plant extracts were also carried out using standard methods. Disc diffusion was used to determine the susceptibility of the organisms to the extracts while broth dilution methods were used to determine the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC).

Results: Results showed that the five test organisms had varied degree of susceptibility to the extracts. Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella species were the most susceptible to the extracts with zones of inhibition ranging between 6.0 to 10.0mm and 6.5 to 9.0mm respectively at concentration of 100mg/ml while Bacillus species was the least susceptible with inhibition zone diameter of 6.0 to 7.0mm at the same concentration. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration ranged between 6.25 to 50mg/ml of the concentrations while the Minimum Bactericidal Concentration occurred at 50mg/ml for ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts of Bryophyllum pinnatum and ethanol extract of Newbouldia laevis. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, tannins, glycosides, and terpenoids. The extracts of Bryophyllum pinnatum had higher activity than extracts of Newbouldia laevis prepared in the same way.

Conclusions: The results suggest that extracts of both plants were broad spectrum in activity and has great potential in effective treatment of wound infections.