Evaluation of Antimicrobial Secondary Metabolites in the Stem Bark of Combretum camporum from Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State Nigeria

The plant Combretum camporum is employed in traditional medicine for the treatment of various ailments, with the stem bark being a reservoir of diverse antimicrobial agents. Consequently, the main objective of this research is to authenticate the antimicrobial properties of this plant. Cold extraction was adopted for the extraction of the pulverized plant’s stem bark using dichloromethane (DCM) and methanol as solvents. The chemical composition of the extracts was screened using standard protocols. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC), with the TLC sheets developed in an ethyl acetate/petroleum ether solvent system, was used to determine the number of metabolites in the extracts. Evaluation of the antibacterial efficacy against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus Spp, Salmonella typhi, and Staphylococcus aureus, as well as antifungal activity against Trichophyton rubrum and Aspergillus niger, was performed using the serial dilution method. Methanol emerged as the most effective extractant, displaying a higher yield of plant material (11.6 g) compared to dichloromethane (5.8 g). A diverse phytochemical compounds were detected in the plant’s extracts, which include alkaloids, phenolic compounds, tannins, flavonoids, saponins, steroids, terpenoids, anthraquinones, and triterpenoids. The thin-layer chromatography showed four and five prominent bands for the DCM and methanol extracts, respectively. Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) values against the tested bacteria and fungi ranged from 62.5 to 250 mg/mL, MIC values ranging from 62.5 mg/mL (Salmonella typhi) to 250 mg/mL (Aspergillus niger). The findings suggest that the stem bark of Combretum camporum harbors compounds that exhibit antibacterial and antifungal properties. Therefore, Combretum camporum stands out as a promising reservoir of antimicrobial agents. Hence, further research endeavors are imperative to isolate the active constituents’ isolation of flavonoids/alkaloids is recommended due to their high antimicrobial activity, and also conduct additional assessments, such as cytotoxicity studies on the plant’s extracts