ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES AND PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF MYRISTICA FRAGRANS SEED EXTRACTS ON SOME CLINICAL ISOLATES OF MICROORGANISMS

ABSTRACT

Myristica fragrans is a well-known ground spice that belongs to the family, Myristicaceae. In the olden days, the spice was used for different medicinal purposes as it possessed curative, aromatic and aphrodisiac properties. This study was designed to identify the antimicrobial activity of the extracts of Myristica fragrans seed and to characterize the phytochemical constituents present. Antimicrobial assay on the extracts to inhibit Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, and Escherichia coli was conducted using agar well dilution method. The phytochemical screening was performed using standard methods. The minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentration tests were performed using the broth dilution method, and pour plate method respectively. They were conducted to determine the bactericidal or bacteriostatic nature of the extracts. The antibiotic susceptibility test was done to evaluate the sensitivity of the selected isolates against different antibiotics and to compare the inhibitory activity between the various antibiotics and the seed extracts. The results of the antimicrobial assay showed that the methanolic extracts have higher inhibition to the test microbes than the other extracts. The result of the phytochemical screening proved the presence saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, steroids, phenols, and terpenoids in the seed extracts. The MIC values ranged between 62.5mg/ml and 31.25mg/ml for the methanolic and aqueous extracts. Some antibiotics such as streptomycin, tarivid and gentamycin showed higher zones inhibition than the seed extracts while others such as ampiclox, erythromycin and pefloxacin, were resistant to some isolated microorganisms. This research has shown   good antimicrobial activity against the selected microorganisms and the presence of useful phytochemicals. Hence, further research should be carried out to discover more of its pharmacological actions and to understand its function as a potential nutraceutical.