Augmentation of the antimicrobial properties of selected antibiotics using the bioactive molecules in ethanol leaf extract of Jatropha Gossypifolia (L.)

Background: With the prevalence of resistance to most of the antibiotics that are currently in use and this inhibits bacteria inhibition and disease resolution. This propels an in depth study on the use of secondary metabolites isolated from J. gossypifolia for combination therapies with some of the commonly used antibiotics: Ciprofloxacin, Erythromycin, Streptomycin, Ampliclox, and Gentamycin. This study aims to investigate the antibacterial synergistic and antagonistic effects of combined ethanol leaves extract of J.gossypifolia with selected antibiotics against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Method: The choice of J. qossypifolia was gotten from an ethnobotanical survey conducted with over 20 participants. Varying concentration of the plant leaves extract (25mg/mL,50mg/mL,100mg/mL,150mg/mL) were produced for inoculation. Manufacturer’s description was employed to prepare different concentrations of all conventional antibiotics used. The sensitivity testing was carried out on agar disc diffusion for both the different concentrations of the plant extract and their combinations. Results: Synergistic activity were observed at Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC50) of 50mg/mL with all the five antibiotics used. At MIC50 of 100mg/mL, the antibacterial activities were significant (p value?0.5) with the activity of combination lower than the plant extracts alone. Conclusion: The results obtained in this study suggested that the ethanolic leave extract of J. gossypifolia has synergistic effect with the five antibiotics used. There is also the possibility of antagonistic effect at 100mg/mL due to the sensitivity of the plant extract alone.