keywords: Borreria verticillata, crude extracts, anti-drug resistant pathogens, anti-dermatophytic properties
The goal of this study is the search for more effective antimicrobial agents among materials of plant origin and also to discover potentially useful active ingredients that can serve as source and template for the synthesis of new antimicrobial drugs. Extracts from the leaves of Borerria verticillata were screened for their antimicrobial activities. Solvents used included hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, methanol and aqueous solvents. The Borreria verticillata plant leaves were air dried and powdered before being soaked in solvents for 3 days. The extracts were tested for the presence of different phytochemicals qualitatively, and were also tested against some Gram-positive organisms (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis), Gram-negative organisms (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi) and some fungi implicated in dermatophytic infections (Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum, Microsporum canis, Epidermophyton flocossum). Agar well diffusion and broth dilution methods were used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal/fungicidal concentration (MBC/MFC) at concentrations of 512 mg/mL to 4 mg/mL. The results showed that the yields of the extracts (g) ranged from 2.82 to 5.10 with the highest yield in the hexane extracts and the lowest yields in the aqueous extracts which was due to the decrease level in the order of polarity in the solvents. It was also noted that there was presence of some active ingredients in all of the crude extracts of the Borreria verticillata leaves and a considerable level of antimicrobial activities was observed in the results. The antimicrobial zone of inhibition ranged from 4.00 mm to 19.33 mm while the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranged from 32 mg/mL to 512 mg/mL and minimum bactericidal/fungicidal concentration (MBC/MFC) ranged from 128 mg/mL to 512 mg/mL. Randomised complete block design was used to determine whether there exist any significant differences among the treatment means of the antimicrobial activity of the leaves of Borreria verticillata.
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