Journal of Medicinal Plants Research 2012, Vol. 6(9), pp. 1795-1799
Ethanolic extracts from resin, root bark, stem bark and leaves of Commiphora swynnertonii were tested
against fungi and bacteria using agar well diffusion method. The fungi included Candida albicans and
Aspergillus niger whereas the bacteria species included Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus
pyogenes, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli.
Antimicrobial activity was determined by measuring inhibition zone diameters around agar wells. Resin
and root bark extracts showed significant activities against S. pyogenes, E. coli and B. subtilis
compared to the other two extracts. Growth of E. coli was highly reduced by resin extract (minimum
inhibition concentration = 1.9 μg/ml). The fungi, C. albicans, also showed similar sensitivity to resin and
root bark extract. Growth of S. typhimurium was not reduced by all four extracts at all concentrations
tested whereas that of P. aeruginosa was slightly reduced. Cytotoxicity studies using brine lethality test
indicated that root bark, stem bark and resin extract had effect to brine shrimps with LC50 of 3.5, 13.0
and 15.8 μg/ml, respectively. The current results indicate that resin and root bark extracts of C.
swynnertonii have strong antimicrobial activity against most of the tested microbes and support the
traditional use of the plant in treating various infectious diseases. Further studies are suggested to
validate the use of this plant against the diseases caused by the tested microbes.