Antibacterial Activities of Leaf and Stem Bark Extracts of Ficus Sycomorus on Clinical Isolates of Salmonella Species and Its Invivo Toxicity Against Swiss Albino Mice.

The phytochemical screening, antibacterial and toxicological activities of extracts of the leaf and stem bark of Ficussycomoruswere investigated. The phytochemical analyses according to standard screening tests using conventional protocol revealed the presence of secondary metabolites such as tannins, flavonoid, Saponins, and alkaloids. In-vitro agar diffusion of the leaf and stem bark extracts of the plant using methanol, water and hexane were investigated on Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Paratyphi A respectively. Methanol, Aqueous and Hexane stem bark extracts showed activity on S. Typhi and S. PaprtyphiA. Hexane extract had no activity against S. Paratyphi A at the concentrations used. The study further showed that the methanol leaf extract had activity against S. Typhi but no activity was observed for the aqueous and hexane leaf extract against S. Typhi at the concentrations used. However, activity was observed for the methanol and aqueous leaf extract against S. Paratyphi A except for the Hexane leaf extract which showed no activity at the concentrations used. The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration studies revealed that the bacterial isolates were inhibited at concentrations of about 12.5mg/ml and 25mg/ml against S. Paratyphi A and S. Typhi respectively and killed at 50mg/ml and 100mgmg/ml respectively. Toxicity studies of the methanol stem bark extracts revealed that the plant exhibited no significant toxicity. These results suggest that the plant may not be toxic to man and could be a potential source of novel antibacterial agents. It is suggested that the synergistic effect of the plant be evaluated with antibiotics and non-antibiotics respectively.