Comparative In vitro Antibacterial Properties of Methanol Extracts and Fractions of Myristica fragrans Seed and Thymus vulgaris Leaf

Abstract

The aim of this work was to compare the antibacterial properties of methanol extracts and fractions of Myristica fragrans seed and Thymus vulgaris leaf on the gram positive and negative bacteria.  The Myristica fragrans seeds were crushed, defatted and air-dried. The defatted seed and leaf powders were separately macerated in absolute methanol for 72 hours. The methanol extracts and fractions were reconstituted at different concentrations of 100mg/mL, 80mg/mL, 60mg/mL, 40mg/mL and 20mg/mL for the antibacterial assay by agar diffusion method with activated cultured Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli , incubated at 37oC for 24 hours . The results showed that these plants possess antibacterial activity on the basis of their zones of inhibition. Methanol extract of M. fragrans had a higher activity of 8-19mm on S. aureus than E. coli with 5-14mm range respectively. Ethylacetate fraction had the highest activity with 9-25mm on S. aureus, while chloroform fraction had the highest activity on E. coli with 8-18mm.  For T. vulgaris, the methanol extract had a higher activity of 6-18mm on E. coli than S. aureus of 4-17mm and for the fractions, n-hexane fraction had the highest activity of 7-20mm on S. aureus , while aqueous fraction had the highest activity of 5-18mm on E. coli, compared with zones of inhibition of 18mm against S. aureus  and 28mm against E. coli  for gentamycin of 2mg/mL which was the reference drug. Methanol extracts and fractions of M. fragrans seed and T. vulgaris leaf showed excellent activities on the gram positive and gram negative bacteria but the M. fragrans had a better activity than T. vulgaris.