Volume :
4
Issue :
3
Abstract :
Nigeria is well known for various medicinal plants including Tetracarpidium conophorum (upka) that have long been used for the treatment of a handful of infectious diseases. T. conophorum is one of Nigeria’s valuable medicinal plants found in the plant family Euphorbiaceae. This study evaluated the in vitro antimicrobial activity of the hulls and nut (edible) of T. conophorum on pathogenic microorganisms. Antimicrobial activities of the extracts from hull and nut of T. conophorum was evaluated on pathogenic species of Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Candida albicans, Aspergillus species using the agar well diffusion method. Phytochemical analysis of T. conophorum extracts on aqueous, ethanol and n-hexane showed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, reduced compound sugar, carbohydrates, and protein in both hull and nut. Antimicrobial analysis conducted confirmed the anti-bacterial and antifungal potentials of T. conophorum plant. The inhibition zone diameter of the soaked hull of T. conophorum against the bacterial isolates was in the range of 10-18 mm while the IZD of the soaked nut of T. conophorum was in the range of 10-17 mm for the bacterial isolates. The IZD of the plant extracts against the fungal isolates was in the range of 11-13 mm. The ethanol and n-hexane extracts of the soaked nut of T. conophorum plant had little antimicrobial activity on the fungal isolates compared to the bacterial isolates which were more susceptible to the antimicrobial activity of the plant. However, the aqueous extracts of the hull and nut of the T. conophorum plant had inhibitory effect on the bacterial isolates but the aqueous extracts of the nut of T. conophorum plant had no inhibitory activity against the fungal organisms. Further molecular studies are required to characterize the active constituents responsible for the antimicrobial activity of T. conophorum plant.