Antimibacterial activity of saponins from Sanseviera trifasciata prain cv. golden hahnii roots on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Sansevieria-trifasciata-is commonly known as both in and out door house plant. It is also used in traditional medicine for treatment of influenza, cough and respiratory inflammation. The roots and leaves have secondary metabolites such as saponins that exbihit remedy for cough, snake bite, sprain, bruise, boil, abscess, respiratory inflammation and hair tonic.  The plant sample was collected and dried. The preliminary test for saponnins was carried out and subsequently saponnin was extracted. A compound was isolated using thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and the antibacterial activity was tested. The S. trifasciata-root extracts and the isolated compound demonstrated potent activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The zone of inhibition of growth produced ranges between 18.67 and 24 mm at 200 ppm concentration level respectively. It is the best eluent that separated the triterpenoid-saponins was chloroform:methanol:water (20:60:4) with 3 spots  having  Rf of 0.125, 0.75 and 0.812.   Key words: Sansevieria trifasciata, roots extract, saponins, antibacterial, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus.