TITLE:
Evaluation of Antibacterial Activities and Cytotoxicity of Three Medicinal Plants Used for the Management of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Staphylococcus aureus Infections in the North-West Region of Cameroon
AUTHORS:
Moses Samje, Brice Tchoufack, Paulin Ngoufo, Henry M. Dilonga
KEYWORDS:
Antibacterial, Cytotoxicity, Medicinal Plants, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Staphylococcus aureus
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Tuberculosis Research,
Vol.9 No.1,
March
10,
2021
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Chemotherapy
is used to combat tuberculosis, and other microbial infections. Unfortunately,
resistance has been reported to a vast majority of currently use drugs. The
objective of this study was to search for new therapies from
plant products for the sustainable management of tuberculosis and S. aureus infections. Materials and Methods: Crude
extracts were obtained by sequential maceration of dry powdered plant material
in three solvents; hexane, dichloromethane and methanol. Phytochemical
screening to identify active constituents in the crude extracts was done by
conventional methods. The antimycobacterial and antimicrobial activity on M. tuberculosis control strain
H37Ra and a clinical isolate of S.
aureus respectively, was evaluated at eight different
concentrations using the microplatealamar blue assay. Cytotoxicity of the active
extracts was evaluated on monkey kidney epithelial cells and assessed using the
MTT/formazan assay. Results: Twelve crude extracts
were obtained, the hexane extract of Sanseviera liberica rhizomes (P3rH) showed antimycobacterial
activity with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 1 mg/mL. The hexane
and methanol extracts of Emilia
coccinea, P2H and P2M respectively, showed antimicrobial activity
with MICs of 500 μg/mL and 1000 μg/mL respectively. P2M and P2H had selectivity
indices of respectively, 0.1046 and 0.2336. Conclusion: This study validates the use of S. liberica and E. coccinea for the traditional management of
tuberculosis and S. aureus
infections, respectively. Furthermore, it provides a base for the purification
of the active extracts and generation of leads in the search of alternative
drugs for the management of these microbial infections.