Antimicrobial Activity, Proximate And Amino Acids Analysis Of Tetrapleura Tetraptera

The fruits of an African spice and medicinal plant, Tetrapleura tetraptera, was analysed for its antimicrobial property, proximate composition and amino acid composition using standard procedures. The sensitivity screen ing revealed that the fruits of Tetrapleura tetmptera exhibited antimicrobial activity against Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Shigella spp and Staphylococcus aureus isolates. The best activity was observed on Escherichia coli. at a concentration of 250mg/ml having a zone of inhibition of 21mrn and the least activity was observed on Shigella spp. with a zone of inhibition of 15mrn at the same concentration. On the other hand, at a lower concentration of 31.25mg/ml, Salmonella spp was more suscep tible with a zone of inhibition of 12mm while the least activity was observed on Shigella spp at a concentration of 31.25mg/ml producing a zone of inhibition of 5mm. these reveals that Shigella spp is more resistant to the extract compared with the other isolates. Upon proximate analysis, Tetrapleura tetraptera had 5% moisture, 14% ash, 11% crude protein, 8% fats and 62% crude fibre. Also, amino acid analysis of the plant revealed that the plant contains about 17 amino acids whose concentrations were expressed in g/100g protein. Among this amino acids, there were 9 essential amino acids which includes Cystine(2.45), Isoleucine(6.21), Leucine (5.57), Lysine (5.97), Methionine (0.83), Phenylalanine(4.05),Threonine(4.75), Valine (5.50) and Tyrosine (3.65) while the remaining 8 were Non-Essential Amino Acids which includes Alanine(6.15), Arginine (6.39), Aspartic acid(11.41), Glutamic acid (13.10), Glycine (6.15), Histidi.ne(3.47), Proline (3.15) and Serine (5.86). This study therefore indicates that Tetmpleura tetmptera fruits could be useful in the treatment of diseases caused by the tes t organisms. Furthermore, the p lant could effectively serve as dietary condiment, particularly at this time when the economies of most nations are on the decline.