South Asian Journal of Research in Microbiology

A study on the antibacterial activities of Bryophylum pinnatum against multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens was carried out in this research. Air-dried and powered Bryophylum pinnatum leaves was extracted using ethanol and aqueous solvents. Five bacteria strains including Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were obtained from the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and they were preliminarily identified using standard microbiological methods. Antibacterial activity was carried out using agar well diffusion method. Mean zone diameter of inhibition in aqueous extract ranged from 9.20±0.17-10.50±0.50mm and 9.30±0.33- 10.33±0.89mm against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus respectively at 25-100mg/ml. In the ethanol extract, mean zone of inhibition ranged from 9.50±0.28-13.33±0.88mm and 10.67±0.67-19.00±0.58mm at concentration range of 6.25-100mg/ml.  Minimum inhibitory concentrations of ethanol extract ranged from 6.25-100 mg/ml against bacterial strains. While those of aqueous extract ranged from 25-100 mg/ml against bacterial isolates. Minimum bactericidal/fungicidal concentrations of ethanol extract ranged from 25-50 mg/ml. While in the aqueous extract, value was 50 mg/ml and against bacteria. The test bacterial pathogens were found to possess multiple drug resistance potential with multidrug resistance index ranging from 0.3 – 0.5. This study has shown that multidrug resistant clinical bacterial pathogens are sensitive to aqueous extract of Bryophyllum pinatum.