article · The Scientific World JOURNAL
Laboratory tests evaluated crude extracts from jackfruit seeds, scientifically known as Artocarpus heterophyllus, as potential alternative treatments for bacterial diarrhoea. Phytochemical screening of ethanolic and hexanolic extracts identified bioactive compounds, including flavonoids, tannins, saponins, steroids, reducing sugars, and cardiac glycosides. Tested against clinical bacterial isolates, both extracts demonstrated antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as methicillin-susceptible and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. In contrast, the extracts showed no inhibitory effects against resistant Escherichia coli or ciprofloxacin-resistant Salmonella typhimurium. The ethanolic extract proved more potent than the hexanolic version, achieving lower minimum inhibitory and minimum bactericidal concentrations. These results provide laboratory evidence supporting the potential of jackfruit seed extracts as alternative herbal therapies for managing diarrhoea caused by specific resistant bacterial strains.
Rising antibiotic resistance and the high cost of standard medications present severe challenges for treating common infectious illnesses like diarrhoea. Establishing that jackfruit seed extracts inhibit specific drug-resistant bacterial strains helps validate traditional herbal therapies and offers a scientific basis for developing plant-derived alternatives to fight superbug infections.
This work is at an early-stage in vitro testing level. It could inform natural product developers and pharmaceutical researchers interested in formulating plant-based antidiarrhoeal remedies against selected resistant pathogens. Moving towards commercialisation would require significant further development, including the isolation of active compounds, standardisation of formulations, toxicity assessments, and clinical trials.
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The current upsurge in resistance to conventional antibiotics, as well as high cost of orthodox medical treatment, called for the use of medicinal plants as an alternative therapy. This research was aimed at determining the antibacterial activity of Artocarpus heterophyllus seed extracts (Jackfruit as it is locally called) in the treatment of diarrhoea. Ethanolic and hexanolic seed crude extracts of the plant were screened for antidiarrhoeal activity against bacteria isolated from clinical samples (methicillin-resistant and susceptible Staphylococcus aureus, multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa , ciprofloxacin-resistant Salmonella typhimurium , and third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Escherichia coli ). Plant phytochemical screening was conducted using standard methods. The antibacterial activity was carried out using the agar well diffusion method and compared to the standard antibiotics ceftriaxone and vancomycin. The minimum inhibitory concentration was determined by the microbroth dilution method, whereas the minimum bactericidal concentration was determined by plating out from microtitre plates with no visible growth. The results of phytochemical screening revealed the presence of tannins, flavonoids, reducing sugars, cardiac glycosides, saponins, and steroids from the prepared crude extracts. The ethanolic and hexanolic extracts had activity on multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus with the mean and standard error zone of inhibition that ranged from 8.5 ± 0.5 to 16.5 ± 0.25 mm; however, the extracts were found not to have activity on resistant E. coli and Salmonella typhimurium . The ethanolic crude extract had the lowest MIC and MBC values of 31.25 and 125 mg/ml, respectively, compared to the hexane extract which had the MIC and MBC values of 62.50 and 250 mg/ml, respectively. This provides the evidence for its usage as an alternative herbal remedy for the treatment of diarrhoea caused by susceptible and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa .
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DOI: 10.1155/2020/9813970
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