PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF THE ANTIMICROBIAL AND BRINE SHRIMP LETHALITY PROPERTIES OF SOME NIGERIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS

Abstract

Thirty ethanol extracts or latex from twenty-nine plants employed in Nigerian ethnomedicine were screened for antimicrobial activity and brine shrimp lethality. At a concentration of 25 mg/ml, most of these extracts exhibited activity against the fungi Curvularia clavata and Candida albicans and against the Gram positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis; but they were all inactive against the Gram negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa Ten extracts had LC₅₀ values between 40 and 100 ppm against the brine shrimp.

Keywords: :

• Antimicrobial
• brine shrimp lethality
• medicinal plants