A Comparative Analysis of the Antibacterial Activities of Aqueous and Ethanol Extract of Garden Egg Leaf on Ocular Bacterial Isolates

Background: Several reports have it that the bioactive compounds found in plants are effective antimicrobials and good source of antibacterial drugs. This study assesses the antibacterial activities of Ethanol and Aqueous extract of Garden egg leaf for potential treatment of bacterial infections. Methods: An invitro clinical study carried out at the molecular laboratory using ocular infected conjunctiva swabs of 20 walk in patients at the Department of Optometry Teaching clinic of the Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State, and using convenient sampling method. Ethanolic and Aqueous extracts of garden egg leaf were prepared using Soxhlet extraction and cold maceration methods respectively. Bacteria species of gram positive and negative stains were cultured. The organisms were identified using the agar-well diffusion method. The leaf extracts were prepared at different concentrations of 100mg/ml, 50mg/ml, 25mg/ml, 12.5mg/ml and 6.25mg/ml. the antibacterial activities of the leaf extracts were tested against gram positive isolates which included Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogene, Micrococcus luteus, Bacilli spp and the gram-negative isolates, namely, Klebsiella pneumoneae, Shigella flexneri, Enterobacter clocae, and Escherichia coli. The zones of inhibition of the microbes were measured. Ciprofloxacin, a standard antibiotic, was used as a positive control to determine the potency of the leaf extracts. Data was analyzed using T-test and ANOVA Results: Each tested isolate showed significant susceptibility to both ethanol and aqueous extract with p value = 0.001. However, on comparing the antibacterial activity of aqueous and ethanol extract on all tested organisms revealed no significant difference with P value= 0.056. There was a significant difference between the leaf extracts (ethanol and aqueous) and the positive control (Ciprofloxacin) with P value 0.0001. Discussion: The aqueous and ethanolic extracts of garden egg leaf revealed significant antibacterial activity but not to be compared with the control antibiotics (Ciprofloxacin) which showed superiority. Conclusion: The study concluded that the aqueous and ethanol extracts of garden egg leaf are potent broad spectrum antibacterial agent for systemic and ocular bacterial infections. Recommendation: Studies should be carried out to assess other parts of the plant model. Keywords: Zone of inhibition, aqueous extract, ethanol extract, ciprofloxacin antibiotics