In Vitro Antimicrobial Evaluation of African Nutmeg (Monodora Myristica) Seeds

Abstract

The organic (Hexane and ethanol) and aqueous extracts of African nutmeg (Monodora myristica) seeds were studied on isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Salmonella typhi and Candida albicans using agar well diffusion technique at extract concentrations of 200, 100,  and 50 mg/ml. The result showed that the various extracts displayed varying degrees of activities with the ethanolic extract demonstrating the highest activity, followed by hexane extract, against all the test isolates. Only S. aureus, E. coli, and B. cereus, were inhibited by the aqueous extracts. Susceptibility increased with concentrations and at 200 mg/ml, S. aureus, E. coli, P aeruginosa, B. cerus, P. mirabilis and C. albicans were generally more susceptible to the organic extracts than S. typhi, and K. pnuemoniae. The antimicrobial zones of inhibition of the organic extracts ranged between 8.0 and 16.0 mm as against 7.0 and 9.0 mm obtained from the aqueous extract at 200 mg/ml. The minimum inhibitory concentration values ranged from 12.5 - 100 mg/ml for the organic extracts. This study suggests that the extracts of African nutmeg posses antimicrobial properties against common pathogenic organisms.

Keywords: African nutmeg, Monodora myristica, antimicrobial properties, clinical isolates