Ethnobotanical Plants Used for Oral Pathogens among Esan Tribe in Esan West Local Government of Edo State

Therapeutic plants have kept on drawing in consideration worldwide in the quest for powerful antimicrobial drugs that can battle resistant pathogens that have rendered numerous conventional medications out of date in the treatment of diseases. As such this study was carried out to evaluate the ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used for oral pathogens among Esan tribe in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State. A total of four medicinal plants were collected and identified as follows: Harungana madagascariensis, Jatropha curcas, Aframomum melegueta and Plumbago zeylanica. They were separately cut into smaller pieces and air-dried for two weeks and at ambient temperature under the shade, grinded into powder, weighed and stored in an air tight container for further use. The quantitative phytochemical analysis of these medicinal plants used in the different Local Government Area revealed that alkaloids range from 1.8±0.31 –10.0±0.48, carbohydrates (0±0.00 - 9.2±0.62), glycosides (6.9±0.31 - 8.6±0.72), steroid (0±0.00 - 4.8±0.40), terpenoids (0±0.00 - 4.2±0.66), saponins (1.2±0.50 - 8.6±0.51), phytosterols (2.2±0.48 - 5.7±0.19), triterpenoids (1.8±0.14 - 4.2±0.23), phlobatannins (2.5±0.08 - 4.5±0.78), resins (0±0.00 - 8.9±0.60), phenols (2.1±0.57 - 6.8±0.02), tannins (0±0.00 - 7.6±0.13), flavonoids (5.9±0.41 - 7.9±0.48) and anthraquinones (0±0.00 - 8.3±0.38). The antioxidant activity of the different plant extracts also shows that at 1000 μg/ml concentration values ranged from 40.1±3.29 - 45.5±3.10, at 500 μg/ml (35.4±2.70 -37.9±2.52), at 250 μg/ml (22.8±2.35 - 29.5±2.36), at 125 μg/ml (12.4±1.31 - 18.1±1.80), at 62.5 μg/ml (5.2±0.48 - 9.4±0.78) 
and at 31.25 μg/ml (1.0±0.05 - 4.5±0.73). The antibacterial activity screened from the zone of inhibition indicate that the various plant extract concentrations (100, 80 and 60 mg/ml), 100 mg/ml showed the high degree of inhibition in descending order among the organisms, E. coil (11.00±2.55 - 13.00±2.26), S. aureus (10.50±2.31 - 13.00±2.42), Streptococcus sp. (10.50±2.62 - 12.00±2.23), P. aeruginosa (10.02±2.60 - 12.05±2.73), P. mirabilis (11.00±2.32 - 12.00±2.66) and K. pneumonia (10.40±2.65 - 13.10±2.81). This study, therefore advocated further research to understand the mechanism behind 20this wide range of antimicrobial activities.