The antimicrobial activities of two Nigerian medicinal plant commonly used as chewing sticks
Zanthoxylum xanthoxyloides
and
Pseudocedrela kotschyi
antimicrobial activities were investigated against 7clinical strains of
Streptococcus
mutans
,
Staphylococcus aureus
ATCC 29213,
Candida albicans
,
Candida tropicalis
and
Candida krusei
ATCC 6825. The
antibacterial and antifungal activities of the extracts were determined using the agar well diffusion and surface plate method
respectively.
Zanthoxylum xanthoxyloides, was active against all the isolates especially on the bacteria with a MIC and MBC of
12.5mg/mL and 25mg/mL respectively.
Pseudocedrela kotschyi showed no activity on all the tested isolates except on
C.
krusei ATCC 6825 with a MIC of 6.25mg/mL. .
Streptococcus mutans,
S. aureus ATCC 29213 and
C. albicans were
completely killed within the time period of 4hrs by
Z. xanthoxyloides extracts in time kill study. A good correlation was found
between the killing curves and the MIC of
Z. xanthoxyloides against the tested isolates. Phytochemical screening revealed the
presence of alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, saponins and traces of terpenoids. Ability of
Z. xanthoxyloides crude extracts to
inhibit the growth of the bacteria and fungi used in this study is an indication that the plant can be used as a source for
antimicrobial agent in the development and formulation of toothpaste, thus justifying the use of the plant in locally as chewing
sticks..