Antimicrobial Activity and Safety of Maesa lanceolata for the Treatment and Management of Selected Bacterial Pathogens

Aim: In vitro antibacterial activity and safety of aqueous, dichloromethane and methanolic extracts of Maesa lanceolata against the selected bacteria.

Methods and Results: Efficacy of air-dried leaves roots, stem bark extracts from M. lanceolata and phytochemicals were determined at the Center for Traditional Medicine and Drug Research laboratory, Kenya Medical Research Institute. Antibacterial activity was tested against; Staphylococcus aureus ATCC (American Type Culture Collections) 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 27853, Shigella dysentriae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa using broth dilution technique. Stem bark methanolic extracts registered higher activity with zone inhibition diameter (ZID) of 21 mm and Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) value of 3.91 mg mlˉ1 against S. aureus. E. coli showed the least activity of 6.3 mm ZID and 250 mg mlˉ1 MIC. Phytochemicals present included alkaloids, phenols, terpenoids, anthraquinones and tannins. The selected leaves (dichloromethane and methanol) and stem bark (dichloromethane and aqueous) extracts displayed cytotoxicity concentration (CC50) on Vero E6 cell lines from 206 µg mlˉ1 to 684 µg mlˉ1.

Conclusion: Activity of M. lanceolata extracts confirms its use in folklore traditional medicine.

Significance and Impact of the Study: The findings from this study validate the claim that extracts of M. lanceolata possess antibacterial activity and justifies their use in herbal medicine.