Background: Medicinal plants are used worldwide for several human ailments including bacterial infections. The present work was designed to assess the in vitro antibacterial activities of some Cameroonian medicinal plants including
Entada abyssinica
,
Entada africana
,
Pentaclethra macrophylla
,
Allexis cauliflora
,
Anthocleista leibrechtsiana
,
Carapa procera
,
Carica papaya
and
Persea americana
against Gram-negative bacteria expressing multidrug resistant (MDR) phenotypes.
Methods: The microbroth dilution was used to determine the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the samples against eight bacterial strains belonging to four species,
Escherichia coli
,
Enterobacter aerogenes
,
Klebsiella pneumoniae
and
Providencia stuartii
.
Results: The extracts displayed selective antibacterial activities with the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) values ranges of 64 to 1024 μg/mL. The most active extract was that from
Pentaclethra macrophylla (TPM) that showed inhibitory activities against five of the eight (62.5%) tested bacteria. The lowest MIC value (64 μg/mL) was recorded with the crude extract of Entada africana against
E. coli AG100A whilst the best MBC (256 μg/mL) value was also obtained with methanol extract of
Persea americana against this bacterial strain.
Conclusion: The results of the present work provide baseline information on the possible use of
Pentaclethra macrophylla, Entada africana and
Entada abyssinica in the treatment of selected bacterial infections.
