Antibacterial Activity And Mechanism Of Tetrapleura Tetraptera Extract And Its Application In Pork

Tetrapleura tetraptera,T.tetraptera one of the indigenous fruit spice serves as food.It is also use in West African medicine to treat a wide variety of human ailments.This work aimed to investigate the antibacterial activity and the mechanism of T.tetraptera root and bark extracts against some selected foodborne pathogens.The solvent used for the extraction of the T.tetraptera was an absolute ethanol.Minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration of the T.tetraptera root extract were in the ranges of 3.125 – 25 ?g/mL and 6.25 ?g/mL-50 ?g/mL respectively,whiles T.tetraptera bark extract exhibited 6.25 ?g/mL-25 ?g/mL and 12.5 ?g/mL – 50 ?g/mL against the bacteria tested.The zones of inhibition was tested using oxford cup and white paper,and the minimum and maximum inhibitions were found to be 20 mm and 28 mm.The antibacterial mechanism of the T.tetraptera against the bacteria were experimented by observing the morphological damages caused on the cell integrity and cell membrane permeability as well as changes in the cell structures and growth patterns.The intracellular materials such as the ATP,DNA and proteins and their enzymes were analyzed,which clearly emphasized the destructive effects of T.tetraptera against the E.coli and S.aureus.The release of these essential cellular constituents indicated that the T.tetraptera root extract altered the cellular membrane permeability of the pathogens which showed a great reduction in the growth of viable bacteria.SDS-PAGE analysis of bacterial proteins exhibited that the loss of soluble proteins were apparent.The results of respiratory metabolism also indicated that the T.tetraptera root extract inhibited the E.coli and S.aureus in the EmbdenMeyerhof-Parnas(EMP)pathway and the Hexose Monophosphate(HMP)shunt as well as on the key enzymes of these pathways respectively.The extracts exhibited tremendous bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects on the bacteria when tested in pork for seven days.According to the results,T.tetraptera extracts did not adversely affect the texture and the sensory characteristics of meat products but hence maintained the quality and sensory properties.There was no significant difference between the meat samples after they were stored for 5 and 7 days.This study clearly indicated that the T.tetraptera can be a potential source of new antimicrobial agent which has proven effective against antibiotic-resistant strains of pathogens.