Volume 6

October-December 2014

Antibiotic activity of Heinsia crinita

Charles O Ezeh, Uzoma J Ngene, Kenechukwu C Onyekwelu

Abstract: 
Antibacterial activity of leaf extracts of Heinsia crinita was observed in this work. Heinsia crinita was evaluated for antibacterial activity on Staphylococcus aureus which was gotten from skin surfaces of students of Renaissance University, 26 males and 24 females making a total number of 50 samples through swabbing. Organisms isolated include Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Bacillus, and because Staphylococcus aureus was the organism of interest it was sub cultured into Nutrient agar plates after which the antibacterial sensitivity testing was carried out. The organism was sensitive to Methanol and Aqueous extract but N-hexane showed no inhibition. The result obtained indicated that female isolates showed more significant effect of antimicrobial activities of leaf extracts of Heinsia crinita against staphylococcus aureus with the value of 25.76MM while for the male showed least significant effect with the value of 22.34MM. It was also found out that for the males: Aqueous extract inhibited the most with the mean value of 4.53MM followed by Methanol extract with the mean value of 3.93MM and N-hexane extract showed no inhibition. For the females, aqueous extract inhibited the most with the mean value of 4.67MM followed by methanol extract with the mean value of 3.93MM while N-hexane extract showed no inhibition. This study justifies the necessity of using Heinsia crinita for medicinal purposes.

Keywords: Antibacterial Activity, Heinsia crinite, Staphylococcus Aureus.