Antibacterial, Phytochemical and Preliminary Toxicity Profile Studies of N-hexane Chloroform, Ethyl Acetate and Methanol Extracts of Andira inermis Stem Bark (Leguminosea)

Abstract

Phytochemical screening remains the most effective method for identifying and screening medically active components of plant. This research work studied the phytochemical screening, toxicity profile and antibacterial activity of the stem bark of Andira inermis using four different extracts by varying the polarity of the solvents; n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetateand methanol. The screening revealed the presence of alkaloids and carbohydrates in all extracts, tannins and saponins were not detected in chloroform and n-hexane extract, glycoside was also not detected in the chloroform extract. The toxicity profile in vivo studies using the Lorke’s method revealed no significance changes in the body weight of the albino rats, and the LD50 was higher than 5000mg/kg. However, there was a significant changes in behavior of the albino rats such as, fatigue, diarrhea, restlessness etc at 1600 mg/kg, 2900mg/kg and 5000mg/kg doses of the extracts respectively. Antimicrobial studies was evaluated with four (4) each of different bacteria and fungi. The results revealed ethylacetate and chloroform (moderately polar solvents) extracts to be more active against both bacteria and fungi but the methanol (highly polar) and hexane (highly non polar) extracts possessed less activities as compared with the other extracts at 15, 20, 30 and 40% concentrations.