Senga Kitumbe P¹, Nkanga Isalomboto C²*, Ngoro Vero³, Welo Unya J⁴, Opota Onya D⁵

 Paper Index :

^1,3,4,5Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kinshasa, P. O. Box 212 Kinshasa XI, Democratic Republic of the                              Congo.                                                                                                                                                                                               ²Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Rhodes University, P.O. Box 94, Grahamstown 6140, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Corresponding author: E-mail address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.*

Abstract

The leaves of Cassia alata Linn. (Fabaceae) are famously used in Africa to treat dermatosis in traditional medicine. Many studies on C. alata have previously reported its antifungal and antibacterial activities that justify its medicinal uses. Traditionally, the leaves of C. alata are rubbed on affected body surfaces in order to treat skin infections. Drawing on this medicinal instruction, we have formulated a dermal ointment from the whole leaves of Cassia alata Linn. This was done in order to improve the traditional preparation used against dermal diseases. Some physicochemical characteristics of the formulation such as pH, phytochemical composition and chromatographic profile were studied. In comparison with the aqueous extract of C. alata leaves medicinal properties, gentamicin and ketoconazole discs were used as controls. The preliminary in vitro antibacterial and antifungal activities of the formulated herbal ointment have been evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans strains.  Overall, the herbal ointment demonstrated higher antifungal activity than antibacterial activity based on the zones of inhibition recorded for all the concentrations. The chromatographic fingerprints established and quantitative analyses conducted in this investigation are worth considering for the quality control of the herbal ointment formulated.

Introduction

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