In Vitro Antibacterial Activity and Phytochemical Evaluation of Acanthospermum hispidum (Asteraceae) Root Extracts

Acanthuspermum hispidum (Astereceae) is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of microbial infections. This research was designed to investigate the phytochemicals and antibacterial potentials of the root extract of A. hispidum. The powdered root was sequentially extracted by soxhlet extractor using n-hexane, chloroform and methanol. Antibacterial profile of the crude extracts were examined against clinical isolates of the following bacterial; Escherichia coli 0:157:H7, Streptococcus Pneumonia, Methicilin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Mannheim species using standard procedures. The chloroform crude extract show higher activity against all tested organisms with zone of inhibition ranging from 13-30mm at 12.5-100mg/mL concentration. The activity demonstrated can be compared with that of ciprofloxacin at 20 mg/mL with the zone of inhibition ranging between 30-35mm on the organism tested. The phytochemical evaluation reveals the present of the following metabolites; steroids, tannins, flavonoid, alkaloid, cardiac glycoside and saponins. Acanthospermum hispidum possessed antibacterial activity which resided in the chloroform extract of the root.