Offor Amarachi Chukwuma¹*, Ugoeze Kenneth C¹ and Ofoefule Sabinus I²

¹Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
²Department of Pharmaceutical aaTechnology and Industrial Pharmacy University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author: Offor Amarachi Chukwuma, Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.

Received: October 30, 2023; Published: December 08, 2023

Abstract

This work involved extraction of the active components of Cajanus cajan (Pigeon pea) leaves with various organic solvents in order of increasing polarity using n-hexane, ethyl acetate, ethanol and water. The extracts obtained were screened for phytochemical components. Extracts with antimicrobial susceptibility were formulated into water-in-oil creams in varying concentrations using reference standard. Formulated creams were evaluated using various parameters such as organoleptic property, homogeneity, pH, viscosity and irritability test on rabbit skin. Extracts were tested against the following typed cultured organisms Staphyloccus aureus NCTC 6571, Pseudonomas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli NCTC 10418, Salmonella typhi and Candida albican using agar well diffusion method. Preliminary phytochemical screening of Cajanus cajan leaves showed presence of alkaloid, phenol, flavonoid, saponin, terpenoids. Ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts inhibited the growth of all bacteria and showed antimicrobial activity against fungi while the aqueous extract had no activity on the organism. N-hexane extract was only active on gram positive bacteria. Highest antimicrobial activity on gram negative bacteria was shown by ethyl acetate extract while ethanol extract showed highest activity on gram positive bacteria, Bacillus subtilis. The minimum inhibitory concentration of the extracts on the organism was in the range of 3.125 mg/mL – 50 mg/mL. Products showed the same antimicrobial activity with the extracts. The formulated creams have the same activity as the extracts with Cream containing 5% of the ethanol extract having the highest activity against Bacillus subtilis. Formulation C5 containing 1% ethyl acetate extract showed activity against all organisms. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) studies of the creams showed that the extracts and the excipients were compatible. Also, the products (C1-C6) were tested on the rabbit skin to check the irritability potential, it did not irritate rabbit skin, indicating the creams were safe for topical applications.

Keywords: Cajanus cajan; Antimicrobial Activities; Minimum Inhibitory Concentration; Phytochemicals; Topical Cream; Bacteria; Susceptibility

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Citation

Citation: Offor Amarachi Chukwuma., et al. “Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of Formulated Water-in-oil Cream Containing Extracts of Cajanus cajan (Pigeon Pea) L. Leaves".Acta Scientific Pharmaceutical Sciences 8.1 (2024): 20-34.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2024 Offor Amarachi Chukwuma., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.