Antimicrobial and wound healing activities of Clerodendron Splendens G. Don

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2008-08-09
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Clerodendron splendens G. Don (Fam. Verbanaceae) is a well known plant in Ghanaian folklore medicine for treating various skin infections and in wound healing. Based on its traditional use, this plant was evaluated for its antimicrobial, wound healing and antioxidant properties. Juice expressed from the fresh leaves and ethanol, acetone and chloroform extracts of the dried leaves, stem and root, all exhibited various degrees of antimicrobial activity against the test microorganisms: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (NCIMB1042), Escherichia coli (NCTC9002), Staphylococcus aureus(NCTC4163), Bacillus subtilis (NCTC10073), Proteus mirabilis (NCTC13376), Klebsiella pneumonia (NCTC5055) and Candida albicans (NCTC3255), with minimum inhibitory concentrations ranging from 0.15 to 7mg/ml. The time-kill kinetics studies conducted suggested microbistatic activity of the various extracts against these test microorganisms employed. The extracts (fresh juice, 3, 30, 300 and 1000 mg/ml) were topically applied twelve hourly to excision wounds created on the back of Sprague Dawley rats in groups of seven. Two more groups serving as the controls were also treated with 1%w/w Silver sulphurdiazine cream and the vehicle (normal saline + tween80). The extracts showed faster rate of wound contraction in the first 5 days than the controls. Higher breaking strengths were recorded, especially in the 300mg/ml treated group, suggesting the possibility of higher collagen content of the repaired tissues than in the control groups. C. splendens also exhibited antioxidant activity in the DPPH (1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging assay with IC50 value of 5.61± 0.04 mg/ml. Thus this study provides a scientific rationale for the traditional use of this plant in the management of wounds and other infectious conditions.
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A Thesis submitted to the Department of Pharmaceutics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master of Pharmacy (Pharmaceutical Microbiology).
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