Phytochemical Screening of Annona Senegalensis Stem Bark and Its Anti-Diarrheal Effect

Abstract

The aqueous and methanolic extracts of stem bark of Annona senegalensis were screened for the presence of phytochemicals using standard methods. Alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids, saponin, phoblotannins and anthroquinones were found to be present while glycosides were absent. The anti-diarrheal activity of the extracts was assayed using agar well diffusion method to establish the inhibition zone diameter for selected microbes that cause diarrhea. Themethanolic extract showed high activity against the tested microbes with inhibition diameter of 26 mm and,25 mm for Escherichia Coli and Clostridium difficile respectively. The aqueous extract exhibited highest activity against Clostridium difficile with inhibition zone diameter of 27mm.However, the standard drug Ciprofloxacin used as positive control showed higher activity for all the tested microbes except for Clostridium difficile for which it had the same inhibition zone diameter as the aqueous extract. The result of this study showed that both   aqueous and methanolic extracts have effects on the tested microbes so can ameliorate diarrhea thus validate the use of these extracts in treating same in the traditional settings.