Medicinal plants extracts are now generally considered as effective medicines that play a major role in
modern pharmacy. The plant Fadogia andersonii belonging to the Family Rubiaceae, which is used in ethno-medicine was
studied. Preliminary phytochemical analyses of the whole plant revealed the presence of the following metabolites:
Saponins, terpenes, steroids, flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides and carbohydrates. Anthraquinones was
found to be absent. Antimicrobial screening of the methanol plant’s extract carried out (in vitro) on
Staphylococcus aureus
,
Escherichia coli
,
Salmonella typhi
,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
,
Bacillus cereus
,
Klebsiella pneumonia,
Streptococcus pneumoniae
,
Streptococcus pyogenes
,
Candida albican and
Aspergillus flavus
showed that the extract has activity on the
tested microorganisms. However, it showed no inhibitory effect against
Escherichia coli. The extract was found to inhibit
the growth of
S. aureus,
B. cereus,
S. pyogenes and
C. albican at 25mg/ml with a corresponding MBC at 50mg/ml.
S.
typhi and
S. pneumonia were inhibited at 50mg/ml with a corresponding MBC at 100mg/ml. It also inhibited the growth
of
P. aeruginosa,
K. pneumonia and
A. flavus at 100mg/ml with a corresponding MBC at 200mg/ml. The observed
antimicrobial effects were believed to be due to the presence of active principles which were detected in the phytochemical
screening.
