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Escherichia Coli, On The Other Hand, Can Cause Intestinal Sickness Such As Bloody Diarrhea
Escherichia Coli, On The Other Hand, Can Cause Intestinal Sickness Such As Bloody Diarrhea
Escherichia Coli, On The Other Hand, Can Cause Intestinal Sickness Such As Bloody Diarrhea
INTRODUCTION
Over time, the world has advanced in many aspects such as in the field of electronics,
business, and most especially healthcare and medicine. However, as new means of curing
diseases are made, the microbes responsible for its harmful effects to society also evolve and
adapt to these new developments. Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli are two of the
most common disease-causing bacteria that can be found in the environment and even within
the body. Staphylococcus aureus can cause infections that are contagious and may even cause
pneumonia, skin disease, and inflammations in different parts of the body (Stoppler, 2018).
Escherichia coli, on the other hand, can cause intestinal sickness such as bloody diarrhea,
dehydration, or even kidney failure. Everyday, we come in contact with these microbes
unknowingly. They could be on the ground, water, animals, and even within us and with the
passing of time comes the development of their immune system, making it hard to combat their
destructive effects.
use a wide range of medicinal plants as they are easily found and are inexpensive especially
for those who cannot afford modern medicine and treatments. Even with the new medicinal
technology generated, plants contain organic antibacterial sources. Plants contain secondary
metabolites such as Tannins and Flavonoids that serve as defense mechanisms against
predation by microorganisms .
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The researchers chose the Acalypha indica linn (Kalipipi), which is commonly
mistaken as a weed despite its various medicinal properties. The different parts of the plant
have been used in a variety of ailments and diseases such as asthma, cough, dog bites, snake
indica linn and provide alternative treatments and supply the demand of natural compounds
The main objective of this study is to investigate and determine the bioactivity of the
leaf extracts of Acalypha indica linn. Specifically, this study will aim to
1.2.1 Measure the zones of inhibition, which is parallel to the antimicrobial activity,
of the leaf extract of Acalypha indica linn against Echerichia coli and
1.2.2 Identify the effectivity of Acalypha indica linn leaf extracts against the E. coli
and S. Aureus through the interpration based on Quinto and Santos (2005): > 19
(inactive).
With the abundance of the Acalypha indica linn as a common weed in the Philippines,
Medicinal plants are usually used as they are readily available, cost-friendly, and they are more
claims, this emphasizes the possibility of antimicrobial properties of Acalypha indica linn. The
study would also give future researchers a head start on other possible properties of the plant.
in Acalypha indica linn leaf extracts. The leaves were gathered from Minglanilla, Cebu,
Philippines only. The experiment was limited to investigating the antibacterial scavenging
activity of pure compounds of the leaf extracts. For the leaf extracts, the inhibition zone of
bacteria was also identified. The study was conducted within the vicinity of Philippine Science
High School- Central Visayas Campus. Finally, the experiment was limited within the best
Tannins – It is any of the soluble astringent complex phenolic substances of plant origin
plant compounds that include pigments ranging in color from yellow to red to blue and
2.0 Introduction
chapter are an overview of the Acalypha indica Linn, its habitat and multiple purposes
Escherichia coli; the background of the Disk Diffusion Method, and the preparation
2.1. Antimicrobial
(Saga, 2009). The main classes of antimicrobial agents are disinfectants, antiseptics,
and antibiotics.
2.1.1. Classification
interfering with the metabolism or destroying the cell wall of the microbes.
peroxide, and iodine, are applied to living tissue or skin to reduce the risk of
medicine is also used to prevent such infections, by either killing the bacteria or
2.1.2. Microorganisms
naked eye and are often described as single-celled or unicellular, however, some
archaea or protists, but not viruses and prions since the two are classified as
multiply under good conditions, often contributing to its host organism and exist
which cause plague, tuberculosis and anthrax; protozoan parasites, which cause
2.2. Bacteria
shapes ranging from spheres to rods and spirals, and are typically a few micrometers in
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length. Bacteria consist of a single cell without a nucleus and form one of the three
domains of life; the others being archaea and eukaryotes (“Bacteria”, n.d.).
found in the nose, respiratory tract, skin, and is a normal inhabitant of the lower
infections such as sinusitis, and food poisoning. The S. aureus can cause a wide
array of diseases, from minor skin infections such as pimples, impetigo, boils,
is one of the five leading causes of hospital-acquired infections and often the
violet stain in the Gram stain test developed by Danish bacteriologist Hans
microscope. When it does not take up the crystal violet stain in the Gram stain
2. Escherichia coli
found in the environment, foods, and intestines of humans and animals. Most E.
coli are harmless, and are actually an important component of a healthy human
intestinal tract. However, some E. coli are pathogenic, indicating that it can
(E. coli, n.d.). The bacteria that are identified as gram-negative are an important
medical challenge, as their outer membrane protects them from many antibiotics
reaction when the bacteria are lysed by immune cells, which can cause a life-
herbaceous shrub that is common in the Tropics, such as Southeast Asia, India,
Oceania and parts of Africa. It grows in moist and shaded places and disturbed places
such as wastelands, wall crevices, roadsides, rocky hillsides, riverbanks and forest
edges (“Acalypha indica L.”, n.d). The Acalypha indica Linn is considered by most
possess medicinal properties that are useful for therapeutic purposes such as an
and bronchitis (Varier, 1996). In the Seychelles, a decoction or infusion of the root is
taken to treat asthma and to cleanse the liver and kidneys, and to treat stomachaches
and purge intestinal worms. A leaf decoction, on the other hand, is used as a massage
cream to treat joint pain in Comoros. In East Africa, the leaf sap is used as eye drops to
treat eye infections. In Namibia however, ground leaves infused in water serve as an
alternative for leaf sap in curing eye infections. The Acalypha indica Linn’s leaf powder
The kalipipi is an erect annual herb that belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family
leaves are ovate and 3 to 6 centimeters long, shorter than the long stalks, and has toothed
margins. Its flowers are greenish and sessile, born on numerous lax, erect axillary
near the summit, while the female flowers are solitary and scattered, each with a large
KINGDOM Plantae
SUBKINGDOM Tracheobionta
SUPERDIVISION Spermatophyta
DIVISION Magnoliophyta
CLASS Magnoliosipda
SUBCLASS Rosidae
ORDER Euphorbiales
FAMILY Euphorbiaceae
GENUS Acalypha L.
The disk diffusion test, or also coined as the agar diffusion test, or Kirby-Bauer
test is a test of the antibiotic sensitivity of bacteria. It uses antibiotic discs to test the
extent of the how far the antibiotics affect the bacteria. In this test, wafers containing
antibiotics are placed on an agar plate where bacteria have been placed, and the plate is
left to incubate. If an antibiotic stops the bacteria from growing or kills the bacteria,
there will be an area around the wafer where the bacteria have not grown enough to be
The size of the zone of inhibition is influenced by multiple factors, one being
the effectiveness of the antibiotic in stopping the growth of the bacteria. Another factor
is the diffusion of the antibiotic with the agar medium and can vary based on the
molecular configuration of the antibiotic. Once the zone diameter is measured it must
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Table 2. Factors that influence zones of inhibition and the diffusion of the antibiotic
2.4.1. Preparation
and accurate results. The media used in Kirby–Bauer testing must be Mueller-
Hinton agar at 4 mm deep and poured into either 100 mm or 150 mm Petri
dishes. The culture must be the Mueller-Hinton agar because it is an agar that
has been thoroughly tested for its pH level and composition. Using this agar
ensures that zones of inhibition can be produced from the same organism. The
agar’s pH level must be between 7.2 and 7.4. This ensures reproducibility and
standardization.
if the size of the inoculum will be too small, the zone of inhibition will be larger
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than supposed to. Alternatively, if the size of the inoculum is too large, the zone
2.4.2. Procedure
Using an aseptic technique, place a sterile swab into the broth culture
Streak the Mueller-Hinton agar plate to form a bacterial lawn using the
swab. To obtain uniform growth, streak the plate with the swab in one direction,
rotate the plate 90° and streak the plate again in that direction, and repeat this
37 °C (98.6 °F).
discs after the plates have been incubated. The diameter of each zone should be
from the antibiotic occurred but not sufficiently enough to inhibit the growth of
ANTIMICROBIAL DISC R = mm or I = mm MS = S = mm or
AGENT CODE less range more
Amoxicillin (Staph) AMC 19 20
Amoxicillin (other AMC 13 14-17 18
bacteria)
Ampicillin (Staph) AM 28 29
Ampicillin (other AM 11 12-13 14
bacteria)
Carbenicillin CB 13 14-16 17
(Pseudomonas)
Carbenicillin (other CB 17 18-22 23
bacteria)
Cefotaxime CTX 14 15-22 23
Cephalothin CF 14 15-17 18
Chloromaphenicol C 12 13-17 18
Erythromycin E 13 14-22 23
Gentamycin GM 12 13-14 15
Methicillin (for M or 9 10-13 14
Staph only) DP
Penicillin P 28 29
Streptomycin S 11 12-14 15
Sulfamethoxazole- SXT- 10 11-15 16
trimethoprim TMP
Tetracycline 14 15-18 19
A previous study on the antimicrobial activity of extracts of the Acalypha indica Linn
utilized the dilution method to determine the effect of petroleum ether extract (40-60 Degree)
chloroform and methanolic extract of dried leaves of Acalypha indica Linn (Euphorbiaceae)
against fungi (Candida albicans) and bacteria (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus,
All of the extracts except for the petroleum ether extract showed prominent antimicrobial
activity. The methanolic extract was then further fractioned into acetone soluble and
insoluble parts, which both also showed prominent antimicrobial activity (Walter, 2007)
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A sack of Acalypha indica Linn leaf samples were collected from parts of Minglanilla
and Argao, Cebu. The agar plates were procured from the CVisC Laboratory (Figures 2, 3, 4).
The bacteria S.aureus and E.coli were taken from the already present samples in the CVisC
Laboratory. The sample was verified in Cebu Technological University, Argao last December
05, 2018.
The Acalypha indica Linn leaf samples were washed with distilled water, were air dried
for 24 hours, and then homogenized into fine particles. Then, the samples were oven dried for
48 hours at 70 degrees Celsius.The dried samples were weighed. One hundred (100) grams of
the dried sample were soaked in 900mL 95% ethanol for 48 hours at room temperature. Filtrates
were collected using filter paper. The ethanol filtrates were put in a rotary evaporator (Figure
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5.) at 40 degrees Celsius to separate the ethanol and plant extracts. The extracts were collected
The microorganisms that were used in this study are under the Biosafety-Level 1 Group,
meaning the agents used were highly unlikely to cause disease in healthy laboratory workers,
animals and plants, based on laboratory policy. The work was done in a laminar flow hood.
Standard microbiological process in the laboratory were used when working in the laboratory.
safety equipment such as lab coats and gloves were required. An individual with knowledge
and training in this field will supervise the laboratory work, and the researchers were only
allowed to observe. The researchers will do the diameter zone of inhibition measurements.
Staphylococcus aureus as the Gram-positive bacteria and Escherichia coli as the Gram-
negative bacteria. The group were using the existent bacterial samples in the laboratory. The
bacterial cultures were maintained in nutrient agar (NA) medium, which were prepared by
heating the mixture of twenty-three (23) grams of NA powder in one thousand (1000) mL
distilled water and autoclaved at 121° C Celsius under 15 psi pressures for 20 minutes.
The Disk Diffusion method was used to test for the leaf extract’s antimicrobial
susceptibility. The test was carried out according to the standard method by Guevarra (2005)
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and by Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (2012) to assess the presence of antibacterial
activities of the plant ethanol extract. The entire procedure was conducted in a well-disinfected
area inside a laminar flow hood using 70% ethyl alcohol as general disinfectant. Standard size
blank Whatman paper discs, 6.00 mm in diameter, were sterilized in the autoclave for 20
minutes at 121° C Celsius at 15 psi. It was impregnated with the ethanol extract, and the known
standard reference antibiotics separately. Each test plate will comprise of three discs. The
standard antibiotic discs for Amoxicillin will serve as a positive control. The negative control
was 95% ethanol. The discs were placed on the surface of the sterilized medium inoculated
with the test organism by using a sterile swab and allowed to stand for five minutes. Samples
were incubated for 37 degrees Celsius for 24 hours, after which the zones of inhibition of
desired growth were collected and measured. The tests were repeated three times to ensure
reliability and the mean values were computed. The antibacterial activity was interpreted from
the size of the diameter of the zone of inhibition measured, it was observed as the clear zones
surrounding the hole. The zone of inhibition was qualitatively interpreted based on Quinto and
Santos (2005): > 19 mm (very active), 13-19 mm (active), 10-12 mm (partially active), and <
10 mm (inactive).
The antimicrobial activity was expressed as mean or average of its inhibition zones.
One Way- Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.5 level of significance was used to determine
if the zones of inhibition have significant difference and compare the zones of inhibition that
have a significant difference. The program Minitab 18 was used for ANOVA and Tukey test.
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The leaf extract was then identified as very active, active, partially active, and inactive based
About 5 ml of the extracts were taken from the rotary evaporation process. These
extracts were then used as treatments against S. aureus and E. coli. The experiment showed
that the Acalypha indica linn leaf exhibits antibacterial properties. As shown in Table 1, the
average zone of inhibition of the leaves against S. aureus is 15.54 mm, which is less compared
to that of the positive control, amoxicillin, which is 21. 09 mm. The leaf extracts show an
average zone of inhibition against E. coli of 9.31, which is also less than that of the positive
control which is 13.33 mm. The leaf extract is found to have better inhibited the growth of S.
aureus compared to E. coli. The same can also be said for the positive control, amoxicillin.
Table 4. Average Zone of Inhibition by Acalypha indica linn leaf extracts, negative control
Ethanol and positive control Amoxicillin against S. aureus and E. coli
S. aureus E. coli
Using One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), it was found out that the p- values
for all treatments against S. aureus and E. coli are both 0.001and 0.004 respectively, which
are both less than 0.05 (Table 2 and 3). Thus, the difference among treatments is significant.
Tukey Test was used to compare the mean values of the zones of inhibition of the
treatments against the organisms (Appendix B). A value of 0.05 or less signifies a significant
difference, while a value greater than 0.05 means there is an insignificant difference. The mean
difference of the leaf extracts against S. aureus shows a significant difference from the positive
control and negative control, which means that it is not as effective as Amoxicillin, but has the
The mean difference of the leaf extracts against E. coli is significant in comparison to
the positive and negative controls, thus it is similarly not as effective as Amoxicillin in S.
Based on the results, the leaf extracts have more potential against S. aureus. On the
interpretation of the leaf extract’s inhibition zones on its effectivity, predicated from Quintos
and Santos (2005), the leaf extract against S. aureus and E. coli are active (13-19 mm) and
5.1 Conclusion
The ethanolic extracts of Acalypha indica linn from its leaves manifested zones of
inhibition against both test organisms E. coli and S.aureus. This suggests that Acalypha indica
According to the Tukey test result (Appendix), the leaf extracts are more effective against
S. aureus. The leaf extracts are active against S.aureus at (13-19 mm) and inactive at (<10 mm)
against E.coli. The antimicrobial activity of the ethanolic extracts and the positive control has
a significant difference which means that the extracts possess antimicrobial properties but they
5.2 Recommendations
The researchers recommend using more test organisms such as fungi and other
as ethanol, methanol, and others to bring out the potential of the leaves against S.aureus are
also recommended. To obtain more accurate results, the researchers recommend conducting
more trials.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
American Society for Microbiology. (2007). Basic Research on Bacteria: The Essential
Frontier. Retrieved from
https://www.asm.org/ccLibraryFiles/FILENAME/000000002932/NIHASMBacteriaR
eport.pdf.
Cleaning and Disinfecting. (2011). Retrieved from Mid Sussex District Council website:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110709225141/http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cf
m?pageID=1783.
McDonnell G. & Russell A.D. (1999). Antiseptics and Disinfectants: Activity, Action, and
Resistance. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1999 Jan; 12(1): 147–179. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC88911/
Schmelzer, G.H., (2007). Acalypha indica L., [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Schmelzer,
G.H. & Gurib-Fakim, A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical
Africa/Resources vegetales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands.
Somchit, N.M. et. al. (2010) In vitro antimicrobial activity of leaves of Acalypha indica Linn.
(Euphorbiaceae). African Journal of Microbiology Research, 4(20), 2133-2136.
Retrieved from https://academicjournals.org/journal/AJMR/article-full-text-
pdf/C824D2214468.
Walter, T.M. (2019) . Review of Acalypha indica, Linn in traditional Siddha medicine.
Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/36447370_Review_of_Acalypha_indica_Li
nn_in_traditional_Siddha_medicine
Zaidan, M.R.S. et. Al. (2005). In vitro screening of five local medicinal plants for
antibacterial activity using disc diffusion method. 22(2). 165-170.
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APPENDIX A
PHOTOS
APPENDIX B
Table 5. Results of One-Way ANOVA for the leaf extract against S. aureus
Groups
Groups
Total 2774.7 26
Table 6. Results of One-Way ANOVA for the leaf extract against E. coli
Groups
Groups
Total 948.1 26
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APPENDIX C
RAW DATA
Table 9. Zones of inhibition by leaf extracts in three trials with three tests each.
Zone of Inhibition
S. aureus E. coli
Table 10. Zones of inhibition by positive control, amoxicillin, in three trials with three tests
each.
Zone of inhibition
S. aureus E. coli
Table 11. Zones of inhibition by negative control, ethanol, in three trials with three testseach.
Zone of inhibition
S. aureus E. coli
VERIFICATION