Background A study was carried out to determine the in vitro antibacterial activity of ethanol extract of root and bark of Securidaca longipenduclulata against standard isolates of Neiserria gonohoreae.

Methods The plant materials were collected early in the morning and dried at room temperature, followed by ethanol extraction using a rotary pump. Antibacterial activity assay was done against two bacterial isolates, viz. US standard isolate NO. 0296 and WHO standard isolate K using the agar diffusion method with dimethyl sulphoxide as a negative control and ceftriaxone antibiotic as a positive control. Antimicrobial activity was determined by measuring the zone of inhibition around each well. The minimum inhibitory concentration of the extract was determined using different concentrations of the extract and plated on the GC media. For each extract six replicate trials were conducted against each organism. The protocol of Odebiyi and Herbune (1978) was followed to determine the presence of phytochemical compounds.

Results The results obtained showed that both the root and bark extracts of Securidaca longipendulata have antibacterial activity against the two bacterial strains with a zone of inhibition of ≥ 10mm in both root and bark and a bactericidal activity at 10⁻² thus 0.01 µg/ml of 10% crude extract in tube dilution. The antibiotic susceptibility tests on the common antibiotics in comparison with the extract showed that the root and bark extract have a higher susceptibility than tetracycline, penicillin and ciproflaxin. The extracts showed presence of saponins, steroids, glycosides, flavonoids, terpenes, alkanoids, phenolics and tanins.

Conclusion The demonstrated antibacterial activity of Securidaca longipeduclulata against Neiserria gonohoreae provides a scientific basis for the traditional use in treating venereal diseases in Kenya. This investigation and further studies will pave way for use of this plant in antibacterial drug development for alleviating human suffering and open u reseach in discovery of new antimicrobial a gents.

Disclosure No significant relationships.