DETECTION OF BIOACTIVE CONSTITUENTS IN Phyllanthus amarus USING THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY-BIOAUTOGRAPHIC METHOD AGAINST Staphylococcus aureus AND Coagulase negative staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Throughout the history of drug development, natural products have provided a fundamental source of drugs for fighting infections. Like in many developing countries, new drugs are often not affordable in Nigeria. Approximately 60– 80% of the world's population still relies on traditional medicines as remedies for the treatment of common illnesses (Owolabi et al., 2007). Nascimento et al., (2000) stated that the World Health Organization (W.H.O) has ascribed medicinal plants as the best source of variety of drugs in combating serious diseases and it advocates that countries should venture into other aspects of traditional medicine. This should be with a view of identifying safe and effective remedies for ailments of both microbial and non-microbial organisms. Medicinal plants have been used for centuries as remedies for human diseases because they contain components of therapeutic value (Tanaka et al., 2002). In recent years, secondary plant metabolites (phytochemicals) have been extensively investigated as a source of medicinal agents. It is anticipated that phytochemicals with good antimicrobial activity will be used for the treatment of bacterial infections, fungi, and viruses.