Antibacterial and Phytochemical Screening of Leaf and Seed Extract of Ficus exasperata

Abstract

Ficus exasperata belongs to the family Moraceae, and is commonly called forest sand paper tree/plant, widely spread in all eco-regions of Nigeria. This plant possesses antimicrobial agents and pharmacological compounds which aid in its efficacy for treatment of ailments. Hence, this study investigated the antibacterial activities and phytochemical screening of aqueous and ethanolic extract of leaves and seeds of Ficus exasperata. Leaves and seeds of the plant sample were processed to obtain fractions of crude extracts which were used against bacterial isolates such as, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Shigella spp. Phytochemical screening of the samples was also done to detect the presence of alkaloid, saponins, flavonoids, glycosides, tannin, terpenoids, sterol and phenols. Results obtained showed the susceptibility pattern against the bacterial isolates at concentrations ranging from 0.20 – 1.00 mg/mL. The ethanol extract of leaves of the plant sample showed high susceptibility pattern against P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, E. coli and K. aerogenes. The study shows that crude extracts of leaves and seeds of the plant sample were effective against the test organisms. The phytochemicals constituents were also present except sterol which is lacking in the seed sample due to the solvent used such as ethanol but may be present if other solvent is used. Antibacterial activity of crude extracts of F. exasperata leaves and seeds were as a result of presence of phytochemical constituents because they are fundamental biomedicals, which are considered biologically to be active compounds. This study provides an insight to the usefulness of extracts from F. exasperata leaves and seeds to be potential treatment against common clinical diseases.