Abstract

PHYTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION, IN VITRO ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY AND ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL OF THE LEAVES EXTRACT OF NAUCLEA POBEGUINII

Adewusi John Adepoju*, Sunday Olusegun Oladoye, Ezekiel Temidayo Ayodele, Misbaudeen Abdul-hammed, Victoria Adeola Falade and Ghesin John Ibikunle

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Abstract

Nauclea pobeguinii is a medicinal plant found in the swamp forest region of the world where it is used by local people to treat fever, sexual asthenia and gonorrhoea. The present study is aimed at investigating the phytochemical, antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant potential of the leaves extracts of Nauclea pobeguinii. The extracts were screened for their phytochemical, antibacterial (using agar well diffusion method) and antifungal activity using mycelia inhibition growth method. Antioxidant potential was also determined through 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activities. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids, phenols and tannins. The inhibitory action of ethanolic extract on test bacteria (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Serratia marcescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) were moderate with inhibition range from 9.5±0.2 - 15.5±0.3 mm. The extracts showed good antifungal potential with inhibition activity ranging between 59.10±0.2 and 88.90±0.1 % (at 250 μg/ mL) against Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, Candida albican and Fusarium solani. The ethyl acetate leaves extract showed high free radical scavenging activities with IC50 5.0 μg/ mL than the quercertin (35.0 μg/ mL) used as standard. This study showed that Nauclea pobeguinii leaves extract is a potential source of antimicrobial agent with good antioxidant potential.

Keywords: Nauclea pobeguinii, Antioxidant, Total phenolic content, Free radical.