Title: Phytochemistry and Therapeutic potential of Moringa oleifera Lam. against some Food-borne pathogenic Bacteria of clinical importance
Authors: Murtala Ibrahim Jibril; Musa Ahmed Abubakar; Maryam Baffa Muhammad; and Idris Sani Ibrahim
Volume: 9
Issue: 10
Pages: 329-335
Publication Date: 2025/10/28
Abstract:
A significant number of plants have been utilized as dietary and phytomedicinal sources in enhancing human health. The present study was conducted to evaluate the antibacterial effects of ethanolic and aqueous leaf-extracts of Moringa oleifera against some food pathogens of medical importance. The present study was carried out at Kano State Polytechnic and Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. The leaves of the plant were extracted following standard methods (Soaking extraction and agar-diffusion methods) to screen for potential antimicrobial substances. The crude extracts of the plant were also tested against standard reference strains including Salmonella typhi ATCC 29212,Escherichia coli ATCC 11229,Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 15442 at different concentrations, with ciprofloxacin (30mg) being used as positive control. After the extraction techniques, the ethanolic extract was found to possess high contents of bioactive compounds compared to aqueous extract. The ethanolic extract exhibited the most remarkable antibacterial activity compared to aqueous extract. Hence, the most susceptible organisms for ethanolic extract were E. coliand S. typhi, with diameter inhibition zone of 29mm and 27mm, followed by S. aureus (25mm), respectively. The lowest was observed in P. aeruginosa with diameter of 22mm. However, both extractswere found inactive against P. aeruginosa at 50mg/mL. Both extracts also have shown to contain different amounts of bioactive components after phytochemical investigation. Thus, for this study, ethanol is indicated to be a better choice for bioactive components extraction compared to aqueous.The study confirmed the alternative source of medicine for food-borne and other enteric pathogens of clinical importance, and this may be attributed to the presence of phytochemical constituents of the tested plant.