The Combinatorial Of M.oleifera And J. Curcas On Bacteria And Fungi

3.6 DETERMINATION OF MINIMUM INHIBITORY CONCENTRATION.
The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extracts was determined by incorporating constant volumes (0.2 ml) of each dilution of the extract into the punch holes made on the agar medium.
Aliquot of the extract 0.2 g was dissolved in 100 ml of sterile distilled water to obtain 2.0 mg/ml.
This 2.0 mg/ml concentration was then doubly diluted in sterile distilled water to obtain concentrations of 1.0 , 0.5, 0.25, 0.125, 0.0625mg/ml.
The minimum inhibition concentration was determined by recording the least concentration of the extracts (mg/ml) or the highest dilution that inhibited the growth of the organisms.
Purified extracts of the leaves of Jatropha curcas and Moringa oleifera (common plants in our locality) were tested against clinical isolates of fungi at various concentrations to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration at which common fungal contaminants are inhibited, without affecting the growth of the pathogenic fungi sought for. At a concentration of 0.25mg/ml contaminants were totally inhibited by the leaf extracts. The bark extracts did not inhibit any fungus even at higher concentrations. From the result it was evident that the leaf extracts of both plant have potentials for use as inhibitory substances in culture media against contaminant fungi including Aspergillus spp, Penicillium spp etc. J. curcas and Moringa oleifera are very common plants in our locality. The benefits of these findings to mycology laboratories in a developing country are enormous. Antibiotic susceptibility pattern of two batches of clinical isolates consisting of eight organisms were collected from the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH). The isolates collected for the first batch were from wound infection and include Staphylococcus aureus, non-klebsiella pneumonia, Vibro cholera and Salmonella typhi. The organisms in the second batch include Sraphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp, Klebsiella pneumonia, Bacillus anthracis, Salmonella typhi and Vibro cholera. The test showed that all the test organisms were susceptible to ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, pefloxacin and gentamycin with reasonable zones of inhibition. Cold methanoic extract, 95% ethanoic extract, absolute ethanoic extract and distilled water extract of Moringa oleifera were assayed for in vitro anthicanterial activity using agar diffusion method.