RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Medicinal plants are used worldwide for several human ailments including bacterial infections. The present work was designed to assess the in vitro antibacterial activities of some Cameroonian medicinal plants including Entada abyssinica, Entada africana, Pentaclethra macrophylla, Allexis cauliflora, Anthocleista leibrechtsiana, Carapa procera, Carica papaya and Persea americana against Gram-negative bacteria expressing multidrug resistant (MDR) phenotypes. METHODS: The microbroth dilution was used to determine the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the samples against eight bacterial strains belonging to four species, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Providencia stuartii. RESULTS: The extracts displayed selective antibacterial activities with the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) values ranges of 64 to 1024 µg/mL. The most active extract was that from Pentaclethra macrophylla (TPM) that showed inhibitory activities against five of the eight (62.5%) tested bacteria. The lowest MIC value (64 µg/mL) was recorded with the crude extract of Entada africana against E. coli AG100A whilst the best MBC (256 µg/mL) value was also obtained with methanol extract of Persea americana against this bacterial strain. CONCLUSION: The results of the present work provide baseline information on the possible use of Pentaclethra macrophylla, Entada africana and Entada abyssinica in the treatment of selected bacterial infections.