Antibiocompetent and bacteriocidal relevance of ascorbic acid on coliforms isolated from feces of apparently healthy students in Rivers Nigeria

Abstract

In recent times, Ascobic acid has been discovered to posses antibiocidal potential against various bacterial strains that has been resistant which is in sharp contrast as it was previously regarded as potential antioxidant especially as it is thought to reduce oxygen radicals both in vivo and in vitro biochemical processes. This study investigates the anti-biocompetent and bacteriocidal relevance of ascorbic acid on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Proteus mirabilis recovered from the apparently healthy student feces at Madonna University. Standard microbiological methods were applied for the isolation of fecal coliforms using sterile blood agar, mannitol salt agar and eosin methylene blue (EMB) agar plates. The agar diffusion disc technique was used to determine an ascorbic acid fortified antimicrobial susceptibility testing of test bacteria at various concentrations varying from 0.167g/ml to 1.0g/ml, while their mean values were compared using one-way analysis of variance. The results revealed that Proteus mirabilis were resistant to the various ascorbic acid concentrations, whereas S. aureus and E. coli were susceptible to various ascorbic acid concentrations. An ascorbic acid content (g/ml) changes/shift (at p < 0.05) the zones of inhibition (mm) of the isolates (E. coli and S. aureus) Such observed antibacterial potential suggests that ascorbic acid may be applied in the treatment of enteric or coliforms infections associated with E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus.