Phytochemicals and Antimicrobial potential of Phyllantus amarus Schum and Thonn obtained in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The antimicrobial efficiency of Phyllanthus amarus Schum. and Thonn, medicinal plants (leaf extracts), was examined using ethanol and chloroform as solvents and tested against human pathogens ; Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Candida albican, using the agar well-diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration. The result of the phytochemical analysis of the plant showed that the plant contain, alkaloid, tannins, steroid, saponins, phlobatannin, terpenoids and cardiac glycoside while anthraquinone was absent. The plant showed significant activity against all pathogens, but the alcoholic extract of P. amarus showed the maximum zone of inhibition and minimum inhibitory concentration against all the microorganisms. The alcoholic extracts of these plants could be a possible source of obtaining new and effective herbal medicines to treat infections; hence, it justified the ethnic use of P. amarus against various infectious diseases.