Antibacterial and Bioactive Properties of Methanol and Ethanol Extracts of the Materia medica Garcinia kola (heckel)

Abstract

This paper investigated the antibacterial properties of methanol and ethanol extracts of bark, leaves, pod, root and seed of Garcinia kola using appropriate standard techniques. Data obtained show that the methanol extract from samples of Garcinia kola contain higher percentage concentration of phytochemicals than ethanol. Saponins (4.20±0.04) occurred highest in the bark, alkaloids (1.54±0.81) in the seed, tannins (1.96±0.17) in the pod, flavonoids (0.92±0.14) in the leaves, while the root contain highest percentage of phenol (0.44±0.11). It was observed that the bark extract of Garcinia kola was more effective in inhibiting the growth of Pseudomonas auraginosa, Esherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus when compared with the extract from the leaves, pod, root and seed. The inhibition of the test extract was higher in extract from the bark, followed by the seed, root, pod and the least zone of inhibition was found in the leaves extracts. The variation in the antibacterial activities is presumed to be due to different active compounds present in the extract. Concentrations of essential organic compounds occurred most in the seed with carbohydrates been dominant, while lipids remains the least concentrated. The appreciable concentrations of phytocompounds detected in the samples of the studied bioresource, coupled with the medicinal potentials are an indication of the plant effectiveness in nutraceutical applications.