Phytochemical and Antimicrobial Study of Jatropha curcus Root

This study investigated the use of Jatropha curcus as a medicinal plant used in treating many microbial infections. The lack of scientific standardization as well as possible therapeutic alternatives against antibiotic resistant bacterial and fungal infections indicates strong need for continuous effort to validate the use of plant material as alternative therapy regimens with similar or higher antibiotic beneficial properties. The present study describes the phytochemical activities and antibiotic properties of Jatropha curcus extracts against S. aureus, E. coli, Klebsiella, Shigella sp, Candida albicans, C. glabrata, C. krusei, C. tropicalisand C. kfyer. The phytochemical analysis was carried out using hexane, ethyl acetate and methanolic extracts of root bark of the plant using standard methods. The antibacterial potency was initially determined by agar well diffusion method for crude extractsof Jatropha curcusfollowed by quantitative evaluation of antibacterial activity by Minimum inhibitory concentration and Minimumbactericidal/fungicidal concentration. Phytochemical screening of all the extracts revealed the presence of alkaloid, flavonoids, carbohydrate, triterpenes and tannins. Steroid was absent in hexane and ethyl acetate but present in methanol extract. Anthraquinones was absent in all the extracts. Sensitivity test result showed that all the test isolates were sensitive to hexane, ethyl acetate and methanolic extracts at 500mg/ml. Staphlococcus aureus, Shigella sp., Candida krusei were found to have Minimum Inhibitory and Minimum Bactericidal/Minimum Fungicidal Concentrations of 31.25mg/ml and 62.5mg/ml respectively in all the extracts. Thus this plant is a potential candidate for drug development for the treatment of diseases caused by these pathogens