A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF IN VITRO GROWTH INHIBITORY ACTIVITIES OF CRUDE AQUEOUS EXTRACTS OF DIFFERENT PARTS OF JATROPHA CURCAS USED SINGLY AND IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER PARTS AGAINST SALMONELLA TYPHI AND ESCHERICHIA COLI

Abstract

The persistent resistance of most disease causing pathogens including Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli to synthetic drugs poses a major concern to the general public. This has drawn the attention of the scientific community to traditional medicines prepared from plant products. Jatropha curcas has been used in the treatment of ailments related to bacterial infections in traditional medical practices. Reports have shown that the aqueous extracts of J. curcas possess little antibacterial activity. The present work was to evaluate the antibacterial activities of aqueous extracts of the following combined parts of J. curcas; stem bark-root, stem bark-leaf, root-leaf and stem bark-root-leaf against Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli. The results of the combinations were compared with those of the plant parts used singly. Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of some bioactive principles in extracts of the various combinations as well as in the single plant parts. Antibacterial susceptibility assay showed that the various extracts possess antibacterial activity at a concentration of 50mg/ml. The antibacterial activities of the various combinations however, were not significantly different from those of the single plant parts. We conclude that extracts obtained from combining various parts of the J. curcas does not seem to demonstrate synergistic effects against the test organisms.