Background and Objective: Herbal medicines are raw or processed plant parts used singly or in combination for management of diseases including hepatic or liver diseases.Herbal medicines have become the primary option for the treatment of liver illnesses because of their safety, availability and less side effects.Inappropriate sourcing of raw plant materials, non-adherence to good manufacturing practices and climate-induced endogenous toxins biosynthesis have resulted in the contamination of herbal products with pathogens and toxins.The objective of the study was to determine the levels of pathogenic bacteria, heavy metals, essential ions and organochlorides in common medicinal plants and their medicinal products.Materials and Methods: In all, 10 herbal drugs meant for liver diseases were purchased from herbal shops, clinics and practitioners in Tamale, Bolga, Wa, Kumasi and Ashaiman.Plant species and parts used in manufacturing the medicines were compiled.The plants were sourced from Gumbini, Forestry Commission Yard in Tamale and aqueous extraction was done.The pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), Cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca), Aldrin, Dieldrin, Endrin, Endosulfan, microbial culture and sensitivity were determined.Results: There was no bacteria growth in the plant extracts.Klebsiella spp.were isolated from 4/10 (40%) of the products and were resistant to trimethoxyprinem/sulfohyoxozole.Only two product samples were above the WHO recommended level for lead and Aldrin.There was no significant difference between the plant extracts and their medicinal product levels of these markers except pH (p = 0.032).Conclusion: Raw materials should be tested and good manufacturing practices including shelving be adhered to avoid contamination.
Background and Objective: Dragon fruit is a well-known and much-used herbal remedy, particularly in Asia, with various intriguing bioactive ingredients and health-promoting qualities.The purpose of this study was to examine the different extracts of white dragon fruit for bioactive components and assess its total phenolic content and antioxidant potential.Materials and Methods: Using the 2,2-Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity assay, the antioxidant activity was ascertained.With the Folin-Ciocalteu technique, the total phenolic content was ascertained.Triterpenoid, alkaloid, flavonoid and saponin were detected by phytochemical screening of the white dragon fruit.Results: The study found the highest total polyphenols recorded in methanolic extracts are higher (246.2±3.32 mg/L) as compared to aqueous extract (197.09±2.41mg/L), whereas in the methanolic extract, the flavonoid content was also higher (196.7±2.01 mg/L) compared to aqueous extract (168.32±2.56mg/L).Antioxidant activity measured in terms of DPPH free radical scavenging assay showed an IC 50 of 210 μg/mL, the extract demonstrated robust antioxidant activity in methanolic extract.Conclusion: The study findings provide new insight into the stable intermediates and phytochemicals related to dragon fruit that are present in different solvent extracts of the fruit.Thus, there is the potential to use dragon fruit, which contains numerous phytochemicals, as a natural active pharmaceutical ingredient.
Background and Objective: Nowadays, research on medicinal plants has intensified due to the diverse therapeutic potential of medicinal plants.The aim of this work is not only to go through the ethnobotanical knowledge of Sarcocephalus latifolius in Southern Benin but also to evaluate the antioxidant potential and toxicity of S. latifolius root extracts.Materials and Methods: Thus, an ethnobotanical survey was carried out in 06 markets located in Southern Benin.The antioxidant activity of S. latifolius root extracts was performed using the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay.To end, toxicity was performed on Artemia salina larvae following the dilution method.Results: The antioxidant activity revealed that the aqueous extract with IC 50 of 0.299 mg mLG 1 has better antioxidant activity than the ethanolic extract (LC 50 = 0.37 mg mLG 1 ).Larval toxicity shows that aqueous extract (LC 50 = 0.528 mg mLG 1 ) and ethanolic extract (LC 50 = 3.62 mg mLG 1 ) show no toxicity.Conclusion: The data of this study indicate that the extracts of S. latifolius present antioxidant and antimicrobial properties and do not present toxicity.This may justify its traditional use in the treatment of microbial infections.
Background and Objective: When two or more herbs are used in formulations, they are known as polyherbal formulations.This study evaluated the bioactive ingredients in some selected herbs commonly used in polyherbal mixture formulations by infrared spectroscopy.Materials and Methods: Fresh samples of Vernonia amygdalina leaves, Allium sativum, Garcinia kola, Curcuma longa and Zingiber officinale were purchased from Wukari New Market, Taraba State, Nigeria.The methanolic extract of the samples was obtained and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR) analysis was conducted on the extracts. Results:The FTIR spectra of the extracts showed bands and wave numbers of between 3280 cmG 1 and 991 cmG 1 as the prominent peaks.The peaks at these frequencies were strong, broad and medium, which confirmed the presence of compounds with the functional groups of alkanes, alkenes, amines, carboxylic acids and alcohols in the extracts.Conclusion: All the samples showed a consistent presence of similar classes of organic compounds.The results of the study confirmed that the selected herbs are vital wellsprings of phytochemicals that offer conventional therapeutic treatment for different infirmities.
Background and Objective: Most of the staple foods enjoyed by the populace are prepared by either roasting or smoking methods.The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the proximate concentration and distribution of PAHs and anti-nutrients in roasted Dioscorea dumetorum (bitter yam) consumed by people in Nigeria.Materials and Methods: Materials used include charcoal, firewood, bitter yam and pieces of plastic.All chemicals used were of analytical grade.The bitter yam was roasted with firewood, charcoal and augmented charcoal and the levels of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), the proximate analysis and the anti-nutrient content were investigated using standard methods.Results: The proximate analysis showed that crude fibre, protein, fat, ash and carbohydrate content varied with changes in the roasting method and were lower than the fresh sample.This study also showed that roasting decreased the anti-nutrient content of yam samples while those roasted with firewood recorded the least content.None of the PAHs detected was above the permissible limit of 5 µg gG 1 stipulated by the World Health Organization (WHO).Yam roasted with augmented charcoal accumulated the highest PAHs (4.4426 µg gG 1 ) when compared to those roasted with firewood (3.4742 µg gG 1 ) and charcoal (1.8044 µg gG 1 ).Fluoranthene and dibenzo(a,h)anthracene were detected in all the roasted yam samples.Conclusion: This study showed that roasting decreases anti-nutrient content in Dioscorea dumetorum and that Naphthalene will be the most deposited PAH after roasting.
Background and Objective: Nature-derived products are finding increased application for therapeutic purposes.Apart from their use as food, mushrooms have been reported in various research to contain bioactive compounds with medicinal capabilities.This study evaluated the in vitro antidiabetic and antioxidant activities of an aqueous extract of Pleurotus ostreatus (mushroom) cultivated on rice bran/sawdust (RB/SD, 70:30 w/w) mixture and sawdust (SD) substrates.Materials and Methods: Pleurotus ostreatus was cultivated on two different substrates followed by aqueous extraction of mature mushrooms.In vitro antidiabetic, (α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition) and antioxidant (DPPH radical-scavenging assay and ferric reducing power (FRAP) activities were done using standard methods.Results were analyzed using IBM Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) software, version 23 and the significance level was established at p<0.05.Results: The extracts showed a concentration-dependent inhibitory effect on α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities in vitro.There was a stronger inhibition of α-amylase activity by the RB/SD sample when compared to SD and a weaker inhibitory effect of the RB/SD sample on α-glucosidase activity when compared to SD.Again, the samples showed a concentration-dependent antioxidant effect with increased DPPH-scavenging activity and FRAP observed with the SD sample compared to the RB/SD sample.The GC-FID analysis of the P. ostreatus samples also revealed the presence of a number of bioactive compounds in different concentrations.Conclusion: These results highlight the effect of cultivation substrate on the potential therapeutic effect of mushrooms the aqueous extract of P. ostreatus could be a promising raw material for the development of anti-diabetes therapeutics.
Bryophytes are considered the first land plants or amphibians of the plant kingdom, with unique thallus structures with no roots and a cuticle over the thallus surface and peculiar water relations as they are considered Poikilohydric plants.These plants have proven ecological significance as water reservoirs, but economically, their worth has to be proven.Usually, sphagnum is considered an economically important plant because of its utility in various fields such as horticulture, fuel, medicine, etc.However, apart from this moss genus, only a few species have been designated with economic implications and, there are lots of species in bryophytes that have shown the presence of economically important phytoconstituents.But, generally, they are somewhat neglected for their phytochemistry and curative properties, aside from their huge diversity, second only to angiosperms.As a result of this knowledge gap about bryophytes, this study will concentrate on the valuable bioactive phytoconstituents that have been documented to date from bryophytes and have useful bioactive components.Currently, bryophytes are expected to supply a vast reservoir of new phytoconstituents for therapeutic use.The phytochemistry of various commonly occurring and easy-to-collect bryophytes has been discussed in almost complete detail in this review, along with their confirmed phytotoxic, antimicrobial, antifungal and cytotoxic properties.This effort has demonstrated that bryophytes hold tremendous promise as a source of various significant and novel bioactive compounds with medicinal and preventive functions.Researchers in bryology, phytochemistry and drug discovery will find the compilation particularly useful.
Background and Objective:In ancient times people use various coloring materials for their hair to maintain the hair looking young and nourished look.Among the various herbal materials, henna powder is very much pronounced with traditional users and it delivers an orange colour shade.The present attempt exclusively finds out the optimized time for the henna release through the quantification method and the results are correlated with dye out and dye uptake on the grey swatches.Materials and Methods: Pure henna powder was collected from high crop season in Rajasthan henna growing garden in India and tested the initial lawsone content through HPLC assay.At various time intervals, the lawsone release potential is estimated through the HPLC method, to estimate the lawsone kinetics.Results: The lowest lawsone release was recorded at 30 min and the value was 0.0657% the highest lawsone release was noticed in 4 hrs soaking samples and the lawsone value was 0.3014%.Around 4 hrs reach the maximum lawsone content i.e. 93% recovery noticed.Study results indicated that the maximum lawsone content was released at 4-6 hrs.The dye uptake value (DE) is higher in 4 hrs soaking time i.e., 24.01 unit, around DE value 4 unit lower in immediate and 30 min soaking time. Conclusion:Lawsone released a quantification study that was immensely useful to draw the usage pattern of henna powder for the consumer to follow the correct method to achieve the optimum active potential during the colouring practice and get vibrant colour delivery.
Background and Objective:The plant, Telfairia occidentalis Hooker fil.contains the varying composition of phytochemicals and has been grown mostly in geoponic media.The study aimed at evaluating the anti-nutrient composition of T. occidentalis leaf grown in different urea hydroponic solutions. Materials and Methods:The Urea solutions varied in the number of Urea granules (25, 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150 g, respectively) dissolved in water containing micronutrients and designated as M 25 U, M 50 U, M 75 U, M 100 U, M 125 U, M 150 U and control.The hydrogen cyanide, oxalate, phytate, tannin, saponin, trypsin-inhibitor, alkaloid and flavonoids contents of T. occidentalis were determined 5 weeks after planting (WAP) following standard procedures.Results: The study showed that the proportion of phytochemicals in T. occidentalis ranged thus: Phytate (4.07-16.88%),tannin (0.80-1.96%), oxalate (3.61-8.80%),trypsin-inhibitor (1.12-2.73%),saponin (6.12-8.58%)and hydrogen cyanide (0.014-0.020 ppm).Higher values of phytochemicals in the leaves were recorded at M 25 U medium (for tannin, oxalate and trypsin-inhibitor), M 100 U treatment (for phytate) and M 125 U treatment (for saponin).The group of alkaloids ranged thus: Purine (0.225-0.988 g/100 g), colchicine (0.185-0.220 g/100 g), quinoline (0.313-0.801 g/100 g), tropane (0.217-0.295 g/100 g), vinca (0.025-0.084 g/100 g), indole/benzopyrrole (0.258-0.413 g/100 g), isoquinoline (0.468-1.054 g/100 g), pyridine (1.436-9.262g/100 g), imidazole (0.099 -0.212 g/100 g), piperidine (0.919-2.350 g/100 g), acridine (0.009-0.017 g/100 g) and β-phenylethylamine (0.198-0.257 g/100 g).Among the growth media, the highest total flavonoids (45.35 g/100 g) of the leaves were recorded at the M 50 U medium while the lowest (21.343 g/100 g) was obtained at the M 150 U medium.The abundant flavonoid was luteolin (7.232 g/100 g) at the M 75 U medium, followed by eriodictyol (5.746 g/100 g) at the M 25 U medium.Conclusion: The growth media with lower urea content (M 25 U growth media) had higher tannin, oxalate, saponin, trypsin-inhibitor and T. occidentalis.
Background and Objective: Nowadays, cystic echinococcosis is one of the parasitic zoonosis caused by Echinococcus.Surgery is the main treatment for this problem, but because of the possibility of spreading its content (protoscolices) during the surgery, finding a better way to prevent the production of secondary infection is always a remarkable subject.This study tried to investigate the Scolicidal effect of methanolic extract of Eriobotrya japonica and Lonicera japonica against hydatid cyst protoscolices in vitro.Materials and Methods: Three concentrations of Eriobotrya japonica and Lonicera japonica (25, 50, 75 mg mLG 1 ) were used over different times of exposure to 5, 10, 20 and 30 min.Then, the eosin stain method was used to determine the percentage of viability.Results: After 30 min of exposure to 75 µg mLG 1 of Eriobotrya japonica, the mean mortality rate was the highest amount (89.21%) than other samples.So Lonicera japonica was the most potent Scolicidal agent in the present study than Eriobotrya japonica.However, both extracts at the same time and concentration resulted in a higher mortality rate than the negative control group.Conclusion: As the results showed the Scolicidal effect of both extracts at three different concentrations was considerable and it has been increased over time.Based on these results, Lonicera japonica and Eriobotrya japonica can be considered candidates for the development of green Scolicidal.
Background and Objective: Psidium guajava is one of the top-rated tropical fruits, rich in high-profile nutrients, such as minerals and phytochemicals.Guava contains a large number of antioxidants and phytochemicals.This research analyses the phytochemical and mineral content of Psidium guajava.Materials and Methods: The phytochemical analysis was carried out using standard methods of AOAC while elemental analysis was conducted using agilent FS240AA atomic absorption spectrophotometer according to the method of the American Public Health Association.Results: The result shows the various phytochemical constituent concentration of Psidium guajava, tannins 11.48±1.45,cardiac glycoside 6.98±3.01,flavonoid 2.49±1.40,anthocyanide 7.345±0.997.The mineral constituent result review potassium 7.028±0.47,sodium 5.49±1.19 and calcium 5.93±0.82.The presence of these essential phytochemicals and minerals in guava confer high nutritional qualities and antioxidant ability, flavonoids in plants are known for their scavenging ability as a result of the presence of hydroxyl groups contained in them.Conclusion: The result suggested that the guava fruit if consumed in sufficient amounts could contribute greatly towards meeting the human nutritional requirement for normal growth and adequate protection against disease arising from Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS).From the result, Psidium guajava could be recommended for use for nutritional purposes.
Background and Objective: Cow urine extract of Nicotiana tabacum leaf, "adimenu" is being used by a significant percentage of Nigerian youths to manage various conditions without enough scientific information to refute or support the usage.This research investigated the effect of single and repeated doses of oral administration of aqueous and cow urine extracts of Nicotiana tabacum leaf on the lipid profile and oxidative and haematological status of Wistar rats.Materials and Methods: Seven groups of five male rats each were used.The control group received 0.5 mL of distilled water, groups A and D received 8 mg kgG 1 body weight of cow urine and aqueous extracts, respectively, orally, once daily for 28 days, groups B and E received 16 mg kgG 1 body weight of cow urine and aqueous extracts, respectively, orally, thrice-a-day for 28 days while groups C and F received 32 mg kgG 1 body weight of cow urine and aqueous extract, respectively, orally, thrice-a-day for 28 days.Biochemical parameters were analyzed in sera and blood samples.Results: Administration of single and repeated doses of the extracts revealed that single and repeated doses of the extracts significantly increased the activity of SOD and catalase as well as the level of LDL and atherogenic index while HDL, RBC, Hb, HCT, MCH and MPV significantly decreased.Conclusion: The administration of the extracts was found to induce oxidative stress, cause anaemia and impair heart functionality.
