Abstract

ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF PRUNUS AFRICANA STEM BARK EXTRACT AGAINST SHIGELLA SPP

Nilanjana Dey, Debasmita Chatterjee, Manash Kumar Choudhury and Satadal Das*

ABSTRACT

Multiple drug resistant bacteria is now increasing throughout the globe. This creates a scope to find out newer antimicrobial agents for the benefit of the mankind. In this study we determined the antimicrobial property of ethanolic extract of stem bark of an African plant Prunus africana against the Shigella spp. Ethanolic extract was prepared from the stem bark of P. africana and evaluation of the antibacterial activity of the extract against four strains of Shigella spp. (S. dysenteriae, S. flexneri – 2 strains, S boydii) was done by agar disc diffusion assay and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay. The result revealed promising antibacterial activity against Shigella spp. based on zone of inhibition (ZI in mm) and MIC values (mg/mL). The highest ZI was observed against S. boydii and an uniform MIC value of 2.625mg/mL was found against all the test organisms used in the study. Thus the ethanol extract from stem bark of P. africana was found effective as an antimicrobial agent against Shigella spp. Further study on the purification of the active ingredients actually responsible for the activity can be studied in future for application in pharmaceutical industry.

Keywords: Antibacterial Activity, Zone of Inhibition, MIC, Prunus Africana, Shigella Spp.