Phytochemical and antibacterial activity of ficus iteophylla linn leaves (moraceae)

This study was performed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of the leaves of Ficus iteophylla against four pathogenic bacterial strain using agar diffusion method. The ethyl acetate, n-butanol and the aqueous portions of the crude ethanol extract were screened for anti-bacterial activities against E. coli, Ps. aeruginosa, S. aureus, and B.Subtilis using agar diffusion method. The Results showed that the aqueous portion has no activity against all the test organisms. Both the ethyl acetate and the n-butanol extracts showed activities with inhibition zone ranging from 11.3 mm to 12.9 mm for E. coli, 13.3 mm to 15.0 mm for S. aureus and 14.5 to 14.8 mm for B. Subtilis, but resistant to Ps. aeruginosa. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined. The MIC of ethylacetate extract showed the best MIC of 2.5 mg/ml against S.aureus, followed by n-butanol extract 5 mg/ml against the same organism. The two fractions showed similar MICs against B. subtilis (5 mg/ml) and E. coli (10 mg/ml). The ethylacetate extract is the most active extract. Fractionation of the n-butanol extract over silica Gel G column chromatography and sephadex LH-20 gave 2 Flavonoid glycosides identified as Kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside and Quercitin-3-O-rutinoside. The observed activity might justify the use of the plant for diarhoea, skin infection and sorethroat