RESUMO
BACKGROUND: In traditional medicine of Ethiopia, Acokanthera schimperi is the one used to treat different infectious diseases. Hence, this study was conducted with the main aim of determining active compounds in the leaves of A. schimperi. METHODS: The antimicrobial activities of using disk diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and acute oral toxicity of the fraction. RESULTS: The average bacterial zone of inhibition of the dichloromethane (DCM), chloroform (TCM), petroleum ether (PE) and ethyl acetate (EA) fractions ranged from 7.67 mm to 18.12 mm. The average values of MIC of the DCM, TCM, PE and EA fractions ranged from 4.17 mg/mL to 33.34 mg/mL. The most susceptible bacterium at 200 mg/mL was S. typhi, (18.12mm), while the less susceptible bacterium was C. freundii (14.33mm). CONCLUSION: The solvent fractions demonstrated significant antibacterial activities with varying spectrum and safe up to 2000mg/kg.