PHYTOCHEMICALS AND ANTIMICROBIAL SCREENING OF THE EXTRACTS OF JATROPHA GOSSYPIFOLIA LEAF (BELLYACHE BUSH)

Abstract

 Jatropha gossypifolia is one of the most useful medicinal plants in many African countries, the leaf being one of the parts of the plant generally used for this purpose. This study thus, evaluated the phytochemical constituents and antimicrobial screening analysis of the crude extract of the leaf of this plant (Bellyache Bush) using standard methods. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of terpenoids, flavonoids, glycosides, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, carbohydrates and phenol while anthraquinones and steroids were absent. The antimicrobial screening of the leaf extract of the plant was carried out on the following microorganisms; Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella Pneumonia, Salmonella typhi and Vibrio cholerae, to determine their activities. The antimicrobial screening result showed that four (4) of the microorganisms were sensitive to all the three (3) extracts and one (1) was resistant to the extract and the zone of inhibition observed for the microbes; Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella Pneumonia, Salmonella typhi and Vibrio cholerae. The ethanol extract showed the highest zone of inhibition values ranging from 25 to 28mm while n-hexane extract showed the lowest values ranging from 20 to 22mm. This shows that the plant can be a source of useful drugs but further studies are required to isolate the active components from the various plant extracts for proper drug development. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration for all extracts and all organisms was within the range of 2.5 – 5 mg/ml except for Klebsiella pneumonia which showed resistance to all extracts. Minimum Batericidal Concentration for all extracts and all organisms ranged from 5 – 20 mg/ml except for Klebsiella pneumonia which, expectedly, showed resistance to all extracts.