CHAPTER ONE

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Plants have provided a source of inspiration for novel drug compounds, as plant derived medicines have made large contributions to human health and wellbeing. Plant extracts have been used for a wide variety of purposes for many thousands of years (Jones, 1996). The antimicrobial activity of plant oils and extracts has formed the basis of many applications, including raw and processed food preservatives, pharmaceuticals, alternative medicine and natural therapies (Reynolds, 1996), (Lis-Balchin and Deans, 1997). The use of traditional medicine is widespread throughout the world. The term traditional medicine is interchangeably used with herbal medicine and natural medicine (Hazan and Atta, 2005).

There is growing interest in exploiting plants for medicinal purposes especially in Africa; this is due to the fact that microorganisms are developing resistance to many drugs and as such created situation where some of the common and less expensive antimicrobial agents are loosing effectiveness (Montefore et al., 1989). These medicinal plants have immensely contributed to the development of human health and welfare. Concomitantly, there is an increase in data and huge patronage to herbal products round the world (Omoseyindemi, 2003);(Elsenberg et al., 1990). According to the World Health Organization, 80% of the world’s population relies on traditional medicines to meet their health regiments (Maffi, 1999). A medicinal plant is any plant which, in one or more of its organs, certain substances that can be used for therapeutic purposes or which are precursors for the synthesis of useful drugs.

A number of plants have been used in traditional medicine for many years due to their antimicrobial properties (Sofowara, 1993). Specifically, the medicinal value of these plants lies in some chemical substances that produce a definite physiological action on the human or animal body (Edeoga et al., 2005). The most important of these bioactive constituents which are mainly secondary metabolites are alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids and phenolic compounds. These phytochemicals are toxic to microbial cells; thus medicinal plants contain a number of the compounds which may be potential antibacterial for the treatment of common bacterial infections (Ratnasooriya et al., 2005).

Plant derived medicines are relatively safer than synthetic alternatives, offering profound therapeutic benefits and more affordable treatments (Kareem et al., 2010). Herbal medicines use medicinal plants primarily presents as an alternative to such situation (Sofowara, 1993).

Medicinal plants such as Piper guineense has been asserted to provide various culinary and medicinal properties (Scott et al., 2005). These medicinal properties exert bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects on some organisms. These effects have been attributed to the peptides, alkaloids, essential oils, phenols and flavonoids which are major compounds in these plants (Okigbo and Igwe, 2007).

This study assessed the antibacterial activity of Piper guineense leaf extract and will serve as a means of exploration for new and novel bioactive compounds



1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1. To determine the antibacterial effects of Piper guineense on Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Escherichia coli



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