PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING, ANTIMICROBIAL AND CYTOTOXICITY STUDIES OF ETHANOL LEAF EXTRACT OF ().

Background: is commonly used in Senegalese traditional medicine to treat pain, inflammation, asthenia, bacterial and fungal infections. The aim of this study was to determine the type of phytochemical constituents present in the ethanol leaf extract and its antimicrobial activity against selected bacterial and fungal pathogens.

Materials And Methods: The ethanol leaf extract of . was evaluated for its cytotoxic effect in the MTT assay against Vero cells. Flavonoids and tannins were the main constituents of the ethanol leaf extract.

Results: The extract inhibited the growth of the three fungal strains used in this study moderately with the lowest MIC obtained for (0.16 mg/mL). The extract also inhibited the growth of and with an MIC of 0.62 mg/mL. For bacterial pathogens, strong inhibition was obtained against (ATTC 29212) (MIC 0.08 mg/mL), while moderate inhibition was obtained for (ATTC 25922) (MIC 0.16 mg/mL) and (ATTC 29213) (MIC 0.31mg/mL). The extract however did not inhibit the growth of (ATTC 27853) at the highest concentration (2.5 mg/ml) tested. The ethanol leaf extract of had a higher cytotoxicity than berberine used as the positive control (LC±0.04 µg/mL and 9.99±0.54 µg/mL respectively). The best selectivity index values was obtained for (SI = 1.24), followed by (SI = 0.62) for bacterial pathogens and (SI = 0.62) for fungal pathogens.

Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that the extracts may not be safe for use in animals infected by some pathogens.