Phytochemical Properties and In vitro Antimicrobial Activity of Methanolic Leaf Extract of Durio zibethinus Murr. on Selected Clinical Isolates

Abstract

Bacterial and viral infections represent the most challenging diseases to treat in humans due to resistance to most of the therapeutic agents. The advent of drug resistance factors that have challenged the effectiveness of all antimicrobial agents prompted the investigation of antimicrobial activity studies of the methanolic leaf extract of Durio zibethinus Murr. This study is focused on evaluating the phytochemical and antimicrobial activity of the leaf extract of D. zibethinus Murr. on selected clinical isolates: Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis (gram-positive bacterial strains), Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi (gram-negative bacterial strains) while Candida albicans and Microsporum audouinii (fungi strains) using the standard agar disc diffusion technique. Alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, terpenoids, steroids, glycosides, and phenolic chemicals have all been identified via phytochemical investigation. The result indicated that the leaf extract exhibited antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Candida albicans and Microsporum audouinii at a range of 10.34–16.02 mm at a concentration of 150 mg/mL relative to standard gentamicin and fluconazole antibiotics. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for S. aureus was 0.250 mg/mL; for E. coli, it was 0.125 mg/mL; whereas it was 0.250 mg/mL for the two fungal strains, C. albicans and M. audouinii. Our investigation revealed that the D. zibethinus Murr. leaf extract exhibited the highest antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli whereas the extract exhibited the highest antifungal activity against M. audouinii. Our research concluded that the Durio zibethinus Murr. leaf extract had potent antibacterial and antifungal properties, suggesting that it could be utilized to treat various pathogenic diseases.