Anti-MRSA and preliminary phytochemical screening of endophytic fungal extracts from Andographis paniculata
Abstract
The primary objective of this study was to test for the antibacterial activity of endophytic fungal extracts obtained from the leaves and stems of Andrographis paniculata against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This is in response to the emerging problem of antimicrobial resistance of human pathogenic bacteria, MRSA. MRSA infection is estimated to be 64% more deadly than the non-resistant form of bacterial infection. Thirteen ethyl acetate extracts of endophytic fungi from A. paniculata were obtained and tested against MRSA using Kirby-Bauer disc susceptibility test, and only samples 2, 5, 12, which were known to come from endophytic fungi Aspergillus Tubingen sis, Aspergillus Oryza and Penicillium citrinum respectively, were the only ones active against MRSA with MIC values of 100 µg/µL for both A. tubingensis and A. Oryza, and 50 µg/µL for P. citrinum fungal extracts. Antibacterial activity of the three above mentioned endophytic fungal extracts revealed significant inhibition of MRSA as compared to the negative control, ethanol (p,0.05). further studies on the antibacterial activity of biologically active secondary metabolites from endophytic fungi present in Andrographis paniculata are necessary to support the antibacterial activity of endophytic fungal extracts against MRSA.