Antimicrobial and Phytochemical Analyses of Sida acuta Leaf Extracts on Selected Wound Isolates
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Fountain Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences
Abstract
Medicinal plants have been intensively screened for their bioactivity in order to treat various diseases in
human. This study was performed to evaluate the antimicrobial and phytochemical properties of Sida
acuta leaf extracts against selected wound microbes. The plant extracts were obtained sequentially using
n-hexane, aqueous and acetone respectively in order of increasing polarity. The extracts were tested for
their antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Klebsiella pneumoniae,
Enterococcus faecium, Acinetobacter baumannii, Salmonella typhi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa using
agar-well diffusion method. The sensitivity of the test organisms to the extracts was represented by
zones of inhibitions (mm) at different concentrations. There was corresponding increase in the zones of
inhibitions (mm) on the test organisms as the concentration of the extracts increased from 64 mg/ml –
512 mg/ml. Among the plant extracts, the aqueous extract of Sida acuta leaf revealed significantly
higher zones of inhibitions (mm) from 7.50±2.12 - 25.00±1.40 on all isolates. This was closely followed
by the acetone extract while the n-hexane extract produced the lowest zones of inhibitions (mm) on all
the test organisms except for Acinetobacter baumannii which has 9.80±0.42 at the concentration of 512
mg/ml. Results obtained on the phytochemical analyses of the aqueous and acetone extracts revealed the
presence of tannins, saponins, alkaloids and flavonoids. Hence, the antimicrobial effects of Sida acuta
leaf extracts has been revealed in this study, therefore its controlled use should be encouraged in the
treatment of wounds and other infections caused by these microorganisms.