Pteleopsis hylodendron (Combretaceae) is used in Cameroon and West Africa folk medicine for the treatment of various microbial infections (measles, chickenpox, and sexually transmitted diseases). The antibacterial properties of the methanolic extract and fractions from stem bark of Pteleopsis hylodendron were tested against three Gram-positive bacteria and eight Gram-negative bacteria using Agar-well diffusion and Broth microdilution methods. Antioxidant activities of the crude extract and fractions were investigated by DPPH radical scavenging activity and β-carotene-linoleic acid assays. The methanolic extract and some fractions exhibited antibacterial activities that varied between the bacterial species (ID = 0.00–25.00？mm; MIC = 781–12500？μg/mL and 0.24–1000？μg/mL). The activity of the crude extract is, however, very weak compared to the reference antibiotics (MIC = 0.125–128？μg/mL). Two fractions (FE and FF) showed significant activity (MIC = 0.97？μg/mL) while S. aureus ATCC 25922 was almost resistant to all the tested fractions. In addition, the crude extract and some fractions showed good antioxidant potential with inhibition values ranging from 17.53 to 98.79%. These results provide promising baseline information for the potential use of this plant as well as some of the fractions in the treatment of infectious diseases and oxidative stress. 1. Introduction Since the successive introduction of various antibiotics into therapeutics, the sensitivity of pathogenic microorganisms changed a lot so that the proportion of antibiotically resistant strains is currently important [1], what involves an increase in seriousness of infectious diseases as gastroenteritis (GE) which are a problem of public health on a worldwide scale but especially in Africa [2]. Diarrhea, its main characteristic is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are more than 2 million deaths per year [3]. Moreover, therapy with synthetic antibiotics is not always possible because of their high cost as well as toxicity due to their extended use. To overcome this problem, people in developing countries use preparations obtained from plants following folk tradition for their primary health care because of low cost with little or no undesirable side effects [4]. The plants represent a potential and almost inexhaustible source of new anti-infective compounds [5] and many of them are used to treat GE effectively [6]. Pteleopsis hylodendron Mildbr. belongs to the family Combretaceae commonly
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