Bacterial resistance against current pharmaceutical drugs has increased vastly across a variety of microorganisms, along with allergic reactions to these medications in the human population. This challenge has prompted the search for novel medicine or drug candidates from natural sources that could have higher potency, quality, and safeness than what is currently available. Prior studies in our lab on plant extracts from the Combretum family have yielded very good results. Thus, natural compounds from Combretum laxum (CL) are worth investigating. CL was divided into stems, leaves, and fruits. Each plant section underwent sequential Soxhlet extraction with petroleum ether (P.E.), acetone (Ace.), and 9:1 ethanol/water (E/W). The dry-freeze crude extracts was then tested for preliminary biological activity against S. aureus (SA), Methicillin Resistant S. aureus (MRSA), B. subtilis (BS), E. coli B (ECB), and S. enteritidis (SE). Preliminary bioassays for the E/W stems and fruits extracts showed positive results against SA, MRSA, BS, ECB and SE. On the other hand, ECB was not inhibited by the Ace. leaves or the E/W stem extracts.

Evaluation of antimicrobial properties of Combretum laxum extracts

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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