Original Articles
Isah Abdulazeez, Aisha Yusuf L
Abstract
A powdered sample of the leaves of Olax subscorpioidea was parculated with ethanol to produce a crude extract. Four fractions were marcerated from the crude extract with n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol. Phytochemical result of the fractions confirmed the distribution of tannins, saponnins, flavonoids, alkaloids, reducing sugar and cardiac glucosides among the fractions. The antibacterial activities of the fractions were determined against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and Klebsiellapnuemoniae at 10mg/disc, 5mg/disc, 2mg/ml and 1mg/disc. The fractions indeed, demonstrated broad activity against all the test bacteria and the activities of the fractions were concentration dependent. The presence of the secondary metabolites in the plant sample and the activities of the plant fractions justified the use of the plant as an antibacterial therapy by traditional disease healers.