Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Antimicrobial activity of ethyl acetate extract of Citrullus lanatus seeds

Upe Francisca Babaiwa¹ , Osayemwenre Erharuyi², Abiodun Falodun², John O Akerele¹

¹Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology; ²Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria.

For correspondence:- Upe Babaiwa Email: upe.babaiwa@uniben.edu Tel:+234-8035467818

Received: 3 August 2015 Accepted: 10 April 2017 Published: 31 July 2017

Citation: Babaiwa UF, Erharuyi O, Falodun A, Akerele JO. Antimicrobial activity of ethyl acetate extract of Citrullus lanatus seeds. Trop J Pharm Res 2017; 16(7):1631-1636 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v16i7.23

© 2017 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To determine the antimicrobial activity and chemical constituents of ethyl acetate extract of Citrullus lanatus seeds.

Methods: Antimicrobial activity of the ethyl acetate extract of the seeds of C. lanatus was evaluated against Staphylococus aureus ATCC 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Bacillus subtilis NCTC8236, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 10145 and Candida albicans ATCC 24433 using standard microbiological method. Chemical constituents of the extract were determined with Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC MS) systems.

Results: An oily, yellowish orange coloured extract with a yield of 18.7 % was obtained. The extract inhibited the growth of all test microorganisms at minimum inhibitory concentration range of 0.313 -2.5 mg/mL and minimum bactericidal concentration of 0.313-5 mg/mL. GC MS profile of the extract showed the presence of oleic acid (31.22 %), saturated fatty acid (23.85 %) and gamma tocopherol (8.79 %). Other organic compounds accounted for 36.16 % of the extract

Conclusion: Ethyl acetate extract of the seeds of Citrullus lanatus has antimicrobial effect against some Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria as well as C. albicans. Twenty-one compounds including fatty acids, hexamethyl-2-ethylacridine, gamma tocopherol and methylphthalate have been identified in the seeds.

Keywords: Citrulluslanatus seeds, ethyl acetate extract, antimicrobial activity