ANTIBACTERIAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF THE LEAVES EXTRACT OF MACARANGA BARTERI AGAINST MULTI-DRUG RESISTANCE STRAINS OF PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA AND ENTEROBACTER SPECIES.

Macaranga barteri is one of the medicinal plants that is empirically used to treat infectious disease. The aim of this study was to investigate antibacterial activities of Macaranga barteri leaf extract towards multi-drug resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter species. The dried leaves of M. barteri were extracted using cold extraction method with NHexane, Chloroform, Ethylacetate, Methanol, and Acetone extratants. All extracts showed varying inhibitory activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter species. Nevertheless, the diameter of zone of inhibition of the methanol leaf extract of Macaranga against the tested bacteria ranged from 0.1-1.1mm, N-Hexane ranged from 0.2-0.8mm, Acetone ranged from 0.5-1.1mm, Ethyl-Acetate ranged from 1.0-1.6mm and Chloroform ranged from 0.3-0.9mm respectively. The result of phytochemical screening of Macaranga barteri leaf extract shows the activities of Saponins, Flavonoid, Tannins, Alkaloids, Anthraquinones, Glycosides and Polyphenol. Leaf extract of Macaranga barteri did not demonstrate antibacterial activities against multi-drug strains Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter species. The absence of antibacterial activities in leaf extract of Macaranga barteri indicates that these bacteria have evolved resistant mechanisms that overcome the extract’s possible inhibitory effects.