Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity, Cytotoxicity and Phytochemical Composition of Sarcophyte Piriei Crude Extracts

Abstract

There are concerted efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance which has in the recent past caused a great threat on antimicrobial use and public health. This has led to multidisciplinary collaboration in the search, design and development of efficacious remedies for the management of infectious diseases. Phytochemicals obtained from plants have shown antimicrobial activity against resistant organisms to antimicrobial agents. Hence, the search for potent remedies from plants to be employed in the management of resistant human pathogens. The problem encountered with utilization of medicinal plants in the management of disease is safety of ethnomedicines due to lack of sufficient data to support their clinical use. Sarcophyte piriei is used in traditional medicine practices to manage infectious diseases. The major phytochemicals present in Sarcophyte piriei like flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, phenols, tannins and terpenoids contribute to the antimicrobial activity of the plant. The safety profile of the extracts and the toxicity of the plant extracts need to be analyzed to ascertain the plant safety for use in both ethnomedicine and conventional medicine practices. The objectives were to investigate the invitro antimicrobial activity of Sarcophyte piriei tuber crude extracts, to evaluate cytotoxicity using brine shrimp lethality assay of Sarcophyte piriei tuber crude extracts and to determine the phytochemical composition of Sarcophyte piriei tuber crude extracts. The solvents used were: petroleum ether (100%), dichloromethane (100%), dichloromethane: methanol (1:1) and methanol (100%) and aqueous. The plant material was obtained from Embu county, air-dried, ground and extracted using the standard protocols. Acute toxicity evaluation using brine shrimp lethality assay showed aqueous to be non-toxic at LC50 values of >1000 μg/ml while the other solvents were toxic. Phytochemistry testing using standard protocols and procedures revealed a number of phytochemicals.