Abstract:
The majority of indigenes in the rural areas of Ghana use herbal medicines for their primary health care. In this study, an
ethnobotanical survey was undertaken to document medicinal plants used by traditional healers in the Ejisu-Juaben district in the
Ashanti region of Ghana to treat infections and to further investigate the antibiofilm formation properties of selected plants in
resisting pathogenic bacteria. Seventy medicinal plants used by traditional practitioners for the treatment of skin infections and
wounds were documented from the ethnobotanical survey. Forty out of the seventy plants were collected and their methanol
extracts evaluated for antimicrobial activity by the agar diffusion assay. Extracts that showed antibacterial activity were tested for
biofilm inhibitory activity, and the most active plant was subsequently purified to obtain the active constituents. Biofilm formation
was significantly mitigated by petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, and methanol extracts of Holarrhena floribunda stem bark. Bioassay-
guided fractionation of an alkaloidal extract prepared from the methanol fraction led to the isolation of three steroidal alkaloids,
namely, holonamine, holadienine, and conessine. The isolated compounds demonstrated varying degrees of biofilm formation
inhibitory properties. The current study reveals that screening of indigenous medicinal plants could unravel potential leads to
salvage the declining efficacy of conventional antibiotics. Holarrhena floribunda stem bark extract has strong biofilm formation
inhibition properties, which could be attributed to the presence of steroidal alkaloids
