EVALUATION OF THE ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES OF EXTRACTS OF CAJANUS CAJAN AND ASPILIA AFRICANA 

ABSTRACT

Resistance of microorganisms to antibiotics is a serious global problem. The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial activity of Cajanus cajan and Aspilia africana leaf extract using the agar diffusion method and to relate it to their constituents the type culture usesd in this work wer Escherichia coli(ATCC 25923) Enterococcus faecalis(ATCC 7080), Pseudomonas aeruginosa(ATCC 27853), Staphylococcus aureus(ATCC 25923) and Salmonella typhi. The susceptibility of the test organisms to the plant extracts and control antibiotics was performed. The control antibiotic used was Gentamicin, the solvent Dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) was also used as control.The ethanol extract of Cajanus cajan at 100mg/ml produced a zone of inhibition of 10mm against staphylococcus aureus and 12mm against Salmonella typhi.The ethanol extract of Cajanus cajan did not have any inhibitory activity on the other test organisms.The ethanol extract of Aspilia Africana did not have any antibacterial activity against all the test organisms. . The phytochemical screening of the plant extracts revealed the presence of flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, tannins and phenols except for the absence of steroids in both plant.  Zone of inhibition range from 9.omm – 30.0mm. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration(MIC) values for Cajanus cajan against Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus ranges from 6.25mg/ml-12.5mg/ml and the minimum bactericidal concentration ranges from 12.5mg/ml-25mg/ml.These result show that the plant extract had some antibacterial activity against some of the test organism and this finding support the medicinal uses of this plant in traditional medicine.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page                                                                                                                                    i

Certification                                                                                                                               ii

Dedication                                                                                                                                 iii

Acknowledgment                                                                                                                    .iv                                                

Table of Contents                                                                                                                       .v

List of Tables’                                                                                                                           vii

List of Figures                                                                                                                          viii

Abstract

Appendix

CHAPTER ONE

1.0. Introduction                                                                                                                     .1

1.1. Aims and objectives                                                                                                          4                                         

CHAPTER TWO

2.0. Literature Review                                                                                                             5

2.1. General description of Cajanus cajan (plant)                                                                   5

2.2. Potential of Aspilia africana (plant)                                                                                 7

2.3 Traditional use                                                                                                                    8

2.4 Active chemical constituents of medicinal plant                                                                8

2.5. Test organisms                                                                                                                  11

CHAPTER THREE

3.0. Materials and method                                                                                                       15

3.1 Collection and identification of plant                                                                               15

3.2 Preparation of plant extracts                                                                                                15

3.2.1 Ethanolic extract preparation                                                                                           15

3.2.2: Preparation of the stock solution of extract                                                                   16

3:3 Test organisms                                                                                                                   16

3.4. Media preparation                                                                                                              16

3.5. Determination of antimicrobial activity                                                                             16

3.5.1 Preparation of test organism (stock culture)                                                                     17

3.5.2. Antimicrobial testing                                                                                                         17

3.6. Determination of inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration 18

3.7. Qualitative phytochemical screening of plant extract                                                            18

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0. Results                                                                                                                                   20

4.1. Antimicrobial activity of Cajanus cajan and Aspilia africana extracts                               20

4.2. Phytochemical screening test                                                                                               23

CHAPETR FIVE

5.0 Discussion                                                                                                                           25

5.2 Recommendation                                                                                                                 26

5.2 Conclusion                                                                                                                          26

 References

                                                      LIST OF TABLES

Table                                         Title                                                                           Page 1 Mean Diameter Zone of Inhibition of the extracts (Cajanus cajan and Aspilia africana)           21               against the test organisms                                               

2 Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration           22

   (MBC) of       Cajanus cajan extract against test organisms

3. Qualitative phytochemical screening of extract of Cajanus cajan and Aspilia Africana          24

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The plants Cajanus cajan and Aspilia africana are among the medicinal plants that have been identified and used throughout human history. Plants have the ability to synthesize a wide variety of chemical compounds that are used to perform important biological functions and to defend against attack from predators such as insects; fungi and herbivorous mammals. At least about 12000 such compound has been isolated so far (John, 2001)

 Chemical compounds in plants mediate their effect on the human body through processes identical to those already well understood for the chemical compounds in conventional drugs thus; herbal medicines do not differ greatly from conventional drugs in terms of how they work. This enables herbal medicines to be as effective as conventional drugs in terms of how they work. The use of plants in medicines predates written human history.”Ethno botany" can be defined as the study of traditional human use of plant. It is recognized as an effective way to discover future medicines. In the year 2001, researchers identified 122 compounds used in modern medicines which were derived from ethno medical plant sources, and the active elements of the plant were being used (Steep, 2004)

In the pharmaceutical industry, many of the pharmaceutical products currently available to physicians have a long history of use of herbal remedies including aspirin, digitalis, quinine and opium.

 The use of herbs to treat disease is almost universal among the non-industrialized societies and is often more affordable than purchasing expensive modern pharmaceutical drugs or product

  Aspilia africana plant or flower belongs to the family compositeae. It is a semi-woody herb from a perennial stock up to 2m high. It occurs in Westland Savannah forest zones and occurs across tropical Africa. Some Aspilia africana flowers are found in most parts of Nigeria. It is a weed grazed by sheep and cattle and used in West Sahara as food for rabbit and horse. It has high crude protein content (Burkill, 1995)

It is used in herbal medicine to treat infection of bacteria origin such as gonorrhea, stomach troubles and corneal opacity. It is used as haemostatic agent (Daltziel, 1995). The fresh leaves are used on cuts, sores and wounds for healing.

 Investigation on the toxic effect of methanolic extracts of Aspilia africana leafs on the cycle and uterine tissues of rats .The study reveals a close dependent toxicity where estrous cycle and histo-architecture  on uterus of female rats suggesting negative influences on reproductive health of the animal.

Reported histological studies of the teratogenic effects of oral administration of Aspilia africana leaf extract on the developing liver of neonatal rats has been made ( Eweka,2007) it was observed that there is a direct cytotoxic effect of aqueous extract of Asipilia africana during pregnancy.

Cajanus cajan is also another Nigerian plant. The Nigerian climate favors a great array of its species. Many of the species has varied medicinal and antimicrobial potentials. Earlier studies have shown that plants that have medicinal and antimicrobial values have either alkaloids, saponins, steroids, tannins, glycosides and various oil and they tend to be the site for the active medicinal ingredient of such plants. Three compounds may be found in a particular part of the plant or all over its body and they are often localized in the gland. Cajanus cajan, an annual or biennial shrub is of the family fabaceae and it is commonly called pigeon pea or field pea. This plants has been found to be an anti-viral (measles, catarrh and hepatitis), antibacterial, antisickling and regulate blood pressure. It can also be applied in the treatment of the psychosomatic disorder called Abutilon (Sofowora, 1999). The antisickling effect of this plant may be due to the prevention of sodium metabisulfite from inducing sick ling of red blood cells by aqueous alcohol extract or due to the effectivenes of seed extract (Iwu et al., 1993). Cajanus cajan in addition to other plant leaves such as Rauwolfia vomitoria, Indiogofera macrophylla is used as remedy for small pox (Iwu, 1993).

1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES  

 The aims of the research project are

I. To evaluate the antimicrobial activity of Cajanus cajan and Aspilia africans by determining the diameter of zone of inhibition against five bacterial strains

II. To determine the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration(MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) of plant extracts.

III. To determine or screen for the phytochemicals present in the plant.

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