PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND MYCOBACTERICIDAL STUDIES OF THE LEAVES OF C. MUCRONATUM SCHUMACH. & THONN.

Combretum mucronatum Schumach & Thonn is a scandent shrub whose leaves are widely used by Ghanaians and other West-African herbalists for the treatment of various infectious and non-infectious diseases. It is used to treat wounds, coughs, dysentery, worm infestation, neurological disorders and bacterial infections. Some coughs are as a result of mycobacterial infection. Despite the success gained in minimizing antibiotic resistance over the past decades, there still remains a need for new antibiotics. Due to the constant development of multi-drug-resistant bacteria to existing antibiotics, particularly those directed against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria such as the tuberculous bacteria, new antibiotics are needed. Folklorically used antimicrobial herbs are good sources of new antibiotics. In that regard, the aim of this study was to assess C. mucronatum leaves for its possible mycobactericidal activity and investigate its extracts phytochemically. The macroscopic, microscopic, and physicochemical characteristics were determined as preliminary means of quality assessment of the plant materials. Phytochemically, C. mucronatum is rich in a wide variety of tannins and flavonoids, and their corresponding TLC chromatograms can be used to confirm the identity and purity of the crude plant material. The 50% ethanol extracts of C. mucronatum had activity against M. smegmatis with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 50 mg/ml. The mycobactericidal activity can be further exploited for development into an anti-infective.