ABSTRACT
Seventeen Philippine plants were subjected to antimicrobial screening against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli using antimicrobial disc assay. The result showed that Terminalia catappa, locally known as "talisay", exhibited the highest antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and none against E. coli. The growth of Staphylococcus aureus inoculated in nutrient broth with different concentrations of the T. catappa extract was determined by measuring cell density at 0 hours and 24 hours of inoculation. The results showed that bacterial cell density decreased significantly after 24 hours of inoculation in the plant extract. Talisay was further tested for its wound healing properties on 2 groups (group 1: standard drug vs. negative control; group 2: herbal extract vs. negative control) of guinea pigs using the abrasion method. A swab of inoculum of S. aureus was applied for infecting the wound. Differences in degrees of wound healing determined by free radical scavenging activity, colony forming units (CFU) counting and histopathologic analysis were noted. Samples from wound abscesses remaining after 48 hours of application of extract were swabbed in petriplates containing 20 ml nutrient agar and were verified using the catalase test. The CFUs were counted 24 hours after incubation. Crude extract was further subjected to High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) yielding a polar substance suspected to be of the aromatic tannin family. ANOVA revealed significant difference in the positive control and negative control results against the T. catappa extract treatment in the in vivo antimicrobial activity model. Among these setups, the wounds treated with the extract exhibited advanced healing as supported by significantly lower absorbance levels in the antioxidant assay, lower CFU count, and significantly higher grade in wound healing parameters for histopathologic analysis. The T. catappa extract under study showed significant inhibition of growth of S. aureus and effective healing of infected wounds