Antimicrobial activity of the methanolic extracts and compounds from Treculia africana and Treculia acuminata (Moraceae)

The crude methanolic extracts from Treculia africana and Treculia acuminata, three compounds isolated from T. africana and identified as, Phyllocoumarin (1), Catechin (2) and 6, 9-dihydroxy-megastigmane-3-one (3), four compounds namely 2, 3, 2,3-dihydroxypropyl-heptadecanoate (4), and Ferulic acid (5) isolated from T. acuminata were tested for their antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria (six species), Gram-negative bacteria (12 species) and three Candida species. The micro-dilution method for the determination of the minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) and the Minimal microbicidal concentration (MMC) was used. The MIC values obtained with the crude extracts varied from 78 to 156 μg/ml against 12 (57.14%) and 20 (95.24%) of the 21 tested microorganisms respectively for T. acuminata and T. africana. Apart from compound 2 that prevented the growth of all the tested microorganisms, other bioactive compounds showed selective activity. The obtained results provide promising baseline information for the potential use of these crude extracts as well as some of the isolated compounds in the treatment of bacterial and fungal infections.