Antimicrobial activities of total alkaloids extracted from some Nigerian medicinal plants

Abstract

The antimicrobial activity of the total alkaloids from five medicinal plants namely Jatropha curcas, Calotropis procera, Magifera indica, Carica papaya and Psidium guajava, commonly used in northern Nigeria for the treatment of various ailments was evaluated using disc diffusion assay. The extracts were used against three bacterial isolates and two fungal isolates includingStaphylococcus aureus, Streptococci, Lactobacillus spp., Actinomycetes and Candida albicans, respectively. The results obtained show that all the plants contains various level of alkaloids and an appreciable level of antimicrobial activities were observed at a concentration level of 6x102 µg/cm3 indicating that the plants could be a potential source of alkaloids that may be used for the treatment of various microbial diseases caused by the tested organisms.   Key words: Antimicrobial activity, total alkaloids, medicinal plants