Antimicrobial Activity and Elemental Composition of Sarcocephalus latifolius Fruits: An Ethnopharmacological Based Evaluation

Abstract

Sarcocephalus latifolius have been part of Sudanese ethnomedicine since long time. The current study was conducted to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of Sarcocephalus latifolius fruits and to investigate its elemental composition. The antimicrobial activities of the ethanolic crude extract and solvents fractions (hexane chloroform, acetone and aqua’s) were investigated by the disk diffusion method. These fractions were further screened for the presence of eight secondary metabolites using standard protocols. The XRF technique was used to evaluate the content of trace elements in the fruit sample ash. The chloroform fraction was the most active against both the targeted Gram positive and negative bacteria with (20, 19, 15 and 11 mm) against Bacillus subtilis (NCTC8236), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923), Escherichia coli (ATCC25922) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC27853). It also found to be active against the yeast Candida albicans (ATCC7596) with 15 mm.  S. latifolius fruits contained different elements with potassium as the most abundant metal (40.11 ppm). All these results support the medicinal and nutritional uses of this plant.