In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Selected South African Plants against Drug-Resistant Staphylococci Isolated from Clinical Cases of Bovine Mastitis

Bovine mastitis in dairy livestock production is a serious economic problem causing milk production losses and increased management costs. Staphylococcus aureus and non-aureus staphylococcus (NAS) are important causes of bovine mastitis. Antimicrobial resistance can limit the control of mastitis pathogens. Antibacterial and cytotoxic activities of acetone and ethanol extracts of nine South African plants were determined against reference and drug-resistant staphylococci isolated from clinical cases of bovine mastitis. The nine plants, namely, Antidesma venosum, Elaeodendron croceum, Erythrina caffra, Indigofera frutescens, Pleurostylia capensis, Searsia lancea, Searsia leptodictya, Trichilia emetica, and Ziziphus mucronata, were chosen for research material. The antibacterial activity of extracts was determined using a serial microdilution method, while a tetrazolium-based assay was used to determine their cytotoxicity against Vero cells. The values of antibacterial minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) obtained were promising, with MIC ranging between 0.01 and 1.41 mg/mL. Generally, acetone extracts of most plants had better activity than their ethanol counterparts. The S. aureus strains were more susceptible to all the extracts than the NAS strains. The plant extracts' half-maximal toxicity (LC50) was higher than 0.02 mg/mL, which is the recommended cytotoxic cut-off concentration. The ethanol extract of E. caffra, which showed better MIC values than its acetone extract, had the highest mean selectivity index (SI) of 8.30. Among the plants tested, S. lancea exhibited the most potent antibacterial activity, suggesting its potential usefulness as a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent against staphylococci associated with bovine mastitis, at relatively non-cytotoxic concentrations. Therefore, it is recommended for further investigation.

Automated summary

Bovine mastitis in dairy livestock production is a serious economic problem caused by Staphylococcus aureus and non-aureus staphylococcus. Antimicrobial resistance hampers control of mastitis. Nine South African plants were tested for their antibacterial and cytotoxic activities against mastitis-causing staphylococci. The extracts showed promising antibacterial effects and low cytotoxicity, particularly the acetone extracts. Further investigation is recommended.