THE ANTIBACTERIAL POTENTIALS OF NYMPHAEA LOTUS SEEDS EXTRACTS

Abstract

Nymphaea lotus, commonly known as water lily (English) or Bado (Hausa), belongs to the family Nymphaeaceace. It is used in traditional medicine as an aphrodisiac, anodyne, astringent, cardiotonic, sedative, demulcent, analgesic and as anti-inflammatory agents. This study seeks to identify the various chemical compounds present in the seed extract of water lily found in Sokoto region and also to evaluate its antibacterial active agent (compound) for the possibility of using them in the development of new antibiotics to reduce cost of health care and mortality rate due to resistance of bacteria to already developed drugs. The seed extract of water lily was found to a percentage moisture content of 48.80 %. Cool extraction method was adopted to extract the seed of water lily using three different solvent (n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol) and also standard methods were used to assess the antibacterial activity of the extracts. The result obtained from solvent extraction of water lily seed revealed that n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol had a mass with percentage yield of 1.19 g, 7.30 %, 3.90 g, 3.19 % and 3.20 g, 10.90 % respectively. The result of the extraction revealed that water lily seed consists of more polar compounds than non-polar ones. The phytochemical screening of the seed extracts of water lily seed revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, steroids, tannins and flavonoids, while anthraquinones and cardiac glycoside were not detected. The results of the antibacterial studies revealed that the fractions has activity on the selected bacteria strain (S. aureus, E. coli and Shigella) with zone of inhibition that ranges between 2-10 mm. these results shows that the water lily seed has a potential for the development of new antibiotic drugs.