Abstract

Background and Objective: Trilepisium madagascariense DC. is a medicinal plant used in the treatment of gastrointestinal infections in Nigeria. The aim of the study was to investigate the antimicrobial activities and determine the pharmacologically bioactive compounds present in this plant to justify its traditional folkloric use in treating diarrhoea. Materials and Methods: The pharmacologically bioactive compounds in the ethanol stem back extract of Trilepisium madagascariense were determined using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and its antimicrobial activities were assayed in vitro by agar well diffusion and macrobroth dilution techniques against different microbial isolates. Results: The mass spectra of the identified compounds in the extract at different retention time showed the presence of 1-Heptatriacotanol, Betulin, ethyl ester of Hexadecanoic acid, Desulphosinigrin, N-methyl-N-[4-(3-hydroxypyrrolidinyl)-2-butynyl]-Acetamine, Paromomycin, 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural, 1-4-Hydroxylysine lactone and 5-amino-1H-Imidazole-4-carboxamide, amongst other bioactive compounds of therapeutic potentials. The antibacterial activities showed that the inhibition zones ranged between 20 and 30 ± 1.0 mm at the highest concentration and the antifungal activities against the fungal isolates ranged between 15 and 25 ± 1.0 mm. Although the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranged between 1.25 and 5.0 mg/ml and the minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) was between 5.0 and 10.0 mg/ml against the bacterial isolates, the MICs and the minimum fungicidal concentrations (MFCs) ranged from 1.563 to 6.25 mg/ml against the fungal isolates. Conclusion: Although the clinical isolates were more inhibited by the extract than the bacterial strains used as control, this study showed that the pharmacological effects of Trilepisium madagascariense depended on bioactive compounds identified. The presence of paromomycin with antidiarrhoeal activity in the extract justifies the use of this plant in the folkloric treatment of gastrointestinal infections. This plant is, therefore, a significant source for isolating novel drugs having significant therapeutic potentials.