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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
pharmacology, toxicology and pharmaceutics
Screening of some medicinal plants of Ethiopia for their anti-microbial properties and chemical profiles
Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 97, No. 3, Year 2005
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Description
In the indigenous health care delivery system of Ethiopia, numerous plant species are used to treat diseases of infectious origin. Regardless of the number of species, if any of such claims could be verified scientifically, the potential significance for the improvement of the health care services would be substantial. The objective of this study was, therefore, to determine the presence of anti-microbial activity in the crude extracts of some of the commonly used medicinal plants as well as to identify the class of compounds in the plants that were subjected to such screening. Thus, the crude methanol, petroleum ether and aqueous extracts of 67 plant species were subjected to preliminary screening against 10 strains of bacterial species and 6 fungal strains using the agar dilution method. A sample concentration of 250-2000 μg/ml and 500-4000 μg/ml were used for the bacterial and fungal pathogens, respectively. The results indicated that 44 different plant species exhibited activity against one or more of the bacteria while one species, viz., Albizzia gummifera showed activity against all the 10 bacteria at different gradient of dilution. Twenty three species inhibited or retarded growth of one or more organisms at dilution as low as 250 μg/ml. Extracts of same plants species were also tested against six different fungal pathogenic agents of which eight species showed growth inhibition against one or more of the organisms. Trichila emetica and Dovyalis abyssinica, which inhibited growth of four and five fungal strains at 100 ug/ml concentration, respectively, were the most promising plants. Chemical screening conducted on the extracts of all the plants showed the presence of several secondary metabolites, mainly, polyphenols, alkaloids, tannins sterols/terpenes, saponins and glycosides. The plants containing more of these metabolites demonstrated stronger anti-microbial properties stressing the need for further investigations using fractionated extracts and purified chemical components. © 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Geyid, A.
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
Abebe, Dawit
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
Debella, Asfaw
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
Makonnen, Zewdneh
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
Aberra, Frehiwot
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
Teka, Frehiwot
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
Kebede, Tesfaye
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
Urga, Kelbessa
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
Yersaw, Kidist
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
Biza, Teklele
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
Mariam, Bisrat H.
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
Guta, Mulugeta
Ethiopia, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Public Health Institute
Statistics
Citations: 254
Authors: 12
Affiliations: 1
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.jep.2004.08.021
ISSN:
03788741
Study Locations
Ethiopia