In-vivo Anti-typhoid Activities of Ethanol Stem Bark Extract of Bridelia ferruginea (Wild) in Albino Rats Infected with Salmonella typhi

Aims: To study the In-vivo anti-typhoid activities of ethanol stem bark extract of Bridelia ferruginea in albino rats infected with Salmonella typhi.

Study Design: Experimental design.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. Between January, 2019 and June, 2019.

Methodology: Fresh stem bark of Bridelia ferruginea were collected, dried, powered and extracted using 70% ethanol. Twenty – seven rats of same age between 90 -120 g in weight were selected and divided into 9 groups containing three each. The infectivity dose (ID) was determined with the clinical S. typhi. After which the rats were infected and orally administered various standard doses of the B. ferruginea stem bark extract (50-5000 mg/kg) accordingly for 7 days. During the treatment period, the fecal samples were collected to monitor the ability of the extract to reduce the fecal shedding of S. typhi. Also, the rats were weighed daily to establish the effect of treatment on their metabolism.

Results: Ethanol extract of B. ferruginea Stem bark at concentrations of 50 mg/ml – 100 mg/ml, didn’t produce any zone of inhibition but from 300-5000mg/ml produce zone of inhibition (ZI) at 2.00-18.33 mm (P< 0.05) on culture of clinical S. typhi isolate and on typed S. typhi isolate zones of inhibitions were seen at concentrations 50mg/ml-5000mg/ml, it produced ZI of 8.00 – 26.19 mm(P< 0.05). Minimum inhibitory concentration of the ethanol extract on the clinical S. typhiis 300mg/ml while on the typed isolate the minimum inhibitory concentration of the ethanol extract was 2600 mg/ml on ethanol extract respectively. The MBC for the two S. typhi isolates were 300 mg/ml and 1000 mg/ml respectively. The in-vivo investigation showed the ethanol extract of B. ferruginea stem bark on S. typhi colony forming units per ml (cfu/ml) of suspensions of faeces of infected rats and treated with the ethanol extract of B. ferruginea stem bark decreased significantly (P< 0.05) as the days of the treatment increased while the cfu/ml of the infected but untreated group significantly (P< 0.05) increased. There were no significant (P< 0.05) difference between weights of S. typhi un-infected, infected rats treated with Ciprofloxacin and ethanol extract of B. ferruginea stem bark but weight of the untreated group significantly (P< 0.05) decreased. Preliminary phytochemical screening of stem bark of Bridelia ferruginea ethanol extract revealed the presence of saponins, tannins, flavonoids, glycosides and terpenoid were pharmacological importance.

Conclusion: The in-vivo anti- typhoid activity of stem-bark ethanol extract of Bridelia ferruginea was found to be relatively safe against Salmonella typhi.