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Antibacterial Screening of Extracts of Stem Bark of Prunus africana and Its Heavy Metal Determination

Received: 16 April 2018     Accepted: 16 May 2018     Published: 26 February 2019
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Abstract

In Ethiopia, the traditional healers use fusions of leaves and decoctions of stem barks of the Prunus africana to treat diarrhea, wound dressing and other bacterial diseases. This provided us an impetus to investigate the antibacterial activities of crude extracts of the plant. In line with, the bioactive molecules from the plant were extracted using Soxhlet and maceration extraction techniques with solvents of different polarities. The Soxhlet technique showed relatively better extraction efficiency in extracting the secondary metabolites of the plant than maceration technique. Among the different solvents examined for their better extraction yield potential, methanol was found to be the best extractant with extraction yield of 22.5%. The antimicrobial activities of crude extracts of petroleum ether, diethyl ether, chloroform, acetone, ethanol and methanol were investigated using agar well disc diffusion and agar dilution antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods. The methanolic extract showed antibacterial activity against both Staphylococcus aereus and Bacillus subtilis with 18.00±1.53 mm and 19.33±2.08 mm diameter of zones of inhibition, respectively. Similarly, diethyl ether extract showed antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis with 17.00±1.15 mm of zones of inhibition. The levels of seven heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Mn, Cr, Ni, Pb and Cd) were determined using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (FAAS) and microwave digester at optimized conditions. Concentrations of Cr, Ni, Pb and Cd were below the method detection limit while Zn, Mn and Cu metal ions were detected and found to be in the Permissible Levels (World Health Organization standards). The concentration of Mn was the highest as compared to that of metals in both stem and leaves the plant.

Published in International Journal of Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology (Volume 3, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijbbmb.20180304.11
Page(s) 52-59
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Prunus africana, Agar Well Diffusion Assay, Gar Dilution Assay, Heavy Metals, FAAS

References
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    Desta Dirbeba, Ahmed Hussen. (2019). Antibacterial Screening of Extracts of Stem Bark of Prunus africana and Its Heavy Metal Determination. International Journal of Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology, 3(4), 52-59. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbbmb.20180304.11

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    ACS Style

    Desta Dirbeba; Ahmed Hussen. Antibacterial Screening of Extracts of Stem Bark of Prunus africana and Its Heavy Metal Determination. Int. J. Biochem. Biophys. Mol. Biol. 2019, 3(4), 52-59. doi: 10.11648/j.ijbbmb.20180304.11

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    AMA Style

    Desta Dirbeba, Ahmed Hussen. Antibacterial Screening of Extracts of Stem Bark of Prunus africana and Its Heavy Metal Determination. Int J Biochem Biophys Mol Biol. 2019;3(4):52-59. doi: 10.11648/j.ijbbmb.20180304.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijbbmb.20180304.11,
      author = {Desta Dirbeba and Ahmed Hussen},
      title = {Antibacterial Screening of Extracts of Stem Bark of Prunus africana and Its Heavy Metal Determination},
      journal = {International Journal of Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology},
      volume = {3},
      number = {4},
      pages = {52-59},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijbbmb.20180304.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbbmb.20180304.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijbbmb.20180304.11},
      abstract = {In Ethiopia, the traditional healers use fusions of leaves and decoctions of stem barks of the Prunus africana to treat diarrhea, wound dressing and other bacterial diseases. This provided us an impetus to investigate the antibacterial activities of crude extracts of the plant. In line with, the bioactive molecules from the plant were extracted using Soxhlet and maceration extraction techniques with solvents of different polarities. The Soxhlet technique showed relatively better extraction efficiency in extracting the secondary metabolites of the plant than maceration technique. Among the different solvents examined for their better extraction yield potential, methanol was found to be the best extractant with extraction yield of 22.5%. The antimicrobial activities of crude extracts of petroleum ether, diethyl ether, chloroform, acetone, ethanol and methanol were investigated using agar well disc diffusion and agar dilution antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods. The methanolic extract showed antibacterial activity against both Staphylococcus aereus and Bacillus subtilis with 18.00±1.53 mm and 19.33±2.08 mm diameter of zones of inhibition, respectively. Similarly, diethyl ether extract showed antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis with 17.00±1.15 mm of zones of inhibition. The levels of seven heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Mn, Cr, Ni, Pb and Cd) were determined using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (FAAS) and microwave digester at optimized conditions. Concentrations of Cr, Ni, Pb and Cd were below the method detection limit while Zn, Mn and Cu metal ions were detected and found to be in the Permissible Levels (World Health Organization standards). The concentration of Mn was the highest as compared to that of metals in both stem and leaves the plant.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Antibacterial Screening of Extracts of Stem Bark of Prunus africana and Its Heavy Metal Determination
    AU  - Desta Dirbeba
    AU  - Ahmed Hussen
    Y1  - 2019/02/26
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbbmb.20180304.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijbbmb.20180304.11
    T2  - International Journal of Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology
    JF  - International Journal of Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology
    JO  - International Journal of Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology
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    EP  - 59
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-5862
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbbmb.20180304.11
    AB  - In Ethiopia, the traditional healers use fusions of leaves and decoctions of stem barks of the Prunus africana to treat diarrhea, wound dressing and other bacterial diseases. This provided us an impetus to investigate the antibacterial activities of crude extracts of the plant. In line with, the bioactive molecules from the plant were extracted using Soxhlet and maceration extraction techniques with solvents of different polarities. The Soxhlet technique showed relatively better extraction efficiency in extracting the secondary metabolites of the plant than maceration technique. Among the different solvents examined for their better extraction yield potential, methanol was found to be the best extractant with extraction yield of 22.5%. The antimicrobial activities of crude extracts of petroleum ether, diethyl ether, chloroform, acetone, ethanol and methanol were investigated using agar well disc diffusion and agar dilution antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods. The methanolic extract showed antibacterial activity against both Staphylococcus aereus and Bacillus subtilis with 18.00±1.53 mm and 19.33±2.08 mm diameter of zones of inhibition, respectively. Similarly, diethyl ether extract showed antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis with 17.00±1.15 mm of zones of inhibition. The levels of seven heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Mn, Cr, Ni, Pb and Cd) were determined using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (FAAS) and microwave digester at optimized conditions. Concentrations of Cr, Ni, Pb and Cd were below the method detection limit while Zn, Mn and Cu metal ions were detected and found to be in the Permissible Levels (World Health Organization standards). The concentration of Mn was the highest as compared to that of metals in both stem and leaves the plant.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • College of Natural and Computational Science, Dire Dawa University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

  • College of Natural Science, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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