Vol. 5, Issue 2, Part A (2023)

Annickia affinis is a medicinal plant of the Annonaceaes family widely used in traditional medicine for the management of typhoid, diarrhoea and urinary tract infections, hence our interest in this plant. Therefore, our work focused on the study of the subacute toxicity and the antimicrobial activities of the methanolic extract of the Annickia affinis (Exell) Versteegh & Sosef stem bark. 
The in vivo subacute toxicity test was performed according to the modified Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines 407 with slight modification over a period of 28 days, with 4 batches of 6 rats (3 male and 3 female albino Wistar rats). The antimicrobial potential was evaluated on three bacterial strains (Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi and Neisseria gonorrhoea) and one fungal strain (Candida albicans) using the micro-dilution broth method for the determination of MICs and MFC and MBCs.
Phytochemical screening of different extracts revealed the presence of anthocyanins, alkaloids, saponins, triterpenoids, coumarins and anthraquinones. Regarding the toxicity testing, No deaths were recorded at the different doses and, physiological, biochemical and histological parameters analyses revealed a non-significant statistical difference. The methanolic extract of A. affinis stem bark exhibited the best antibacterial activity on S. tiphy and N. gonorrhoea strains (MIC 39 μg/ml), weak antibacterial activity on E. coli (MIC = 2500μg/ml) and not antifungal activity was observed on Candida albicans (MIC ˃ 10000 μg/ml). According to the BMC/MIC ratios, our extract is bactericidal on E. coli, S. typhi, and N. gonorrhoea.
This study highlights the antibacterial effect of the methanolic extract of Annikia affinis on S. typhi and N. gonorrhoea strengthening his folkloric usage in management of typhoid and bacteril infection of the smooth muscle of acceptable safety.