Okanlawon, T. S., Ogundele et al. (10 contributing authors)
Leucaena leucocephala is a fast-growing leguminous plant this is used in the treatment of intestinal diseases and as birth control. This work was geared toward investigating the phytochemical attributes and the antimicrobial actions of methanol and distilled water crude extracts from the stem bark of Leucaena leucocephala in the ratio of 3:2 on nineteen bacterial species. The antimicrobial activity of the plant extract was done with the use of the agar diffusion technique in line with the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. The extract was located to be energetic against sixteen bacterial traces at a concentration of 35 mg/mL except for Bacillus anthracis, Clostridium sporogenes, and Pseudomonas fluorescens . The zones of inhibition exhibited by means of the extract towards the organisms ranged from 10.00 mm to 20.00 mm. The MIC exhibited by the extract ranged from 2.19 mg/ml to 8.75mg/ml while the MBC ranged from 4.38 mg/ml to 17.5 mg/ml. The effects of the extract on bacterial species were compared with the use of selected antibiotics such as streptomycin, and ampicillin. The phytochemical parts of the extract include tannins, glycosides, alkaloids, phenols, and terpenoids. Results from this research confirmed that the stem bark extract of Leucaena leucocephala exhibited antimicrobial activity against the selected bacteria and support the usefulness of this plant in folklore treatments.
Kolawole, I. O., Ebuehi et al. (10 contributing authors)
Alafia barteri is valued for its effectiveness in the traditional medicine system in Nigeria and other African countries. This study aims at evaluating the hypolipidemic effect of the aqueous and ethanol leaf and root extracts of Alafia barteri in formaldehyde-induced arthritic mice. 77 healthy Swiss albino male mice (30-35 g) were randomized into eleven groups of five mice each and extracts were administered for 10 days at 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg. Arthritis was induced by sub-plantar injection of 0.1 mL of 2 % formaldehyde. Serum lipid profile was evaluated after blood sample collection. Results of this study revealed that the aqueous and ethanol leaf extracts caused significant reduction(p˂0.05) in triglyceride and total cholesterol levels, but increased HDL-cholesterol levels compared to the arthritic control which is suggestive of their hypo-lipidemic effects in arthritic mice.
Omojoyegbe, R. T., Olatunji et al. (8 contributing authors)
The rise in the incidence of side effects of many synthetic antimicrobial agents and prevalence of multidrug resistant bacteria has spurred scientists on the research for plant based antimicrobial of therapeutic potentials. Ocimum gratissimum L. presents such potential of high medicinal value. This plant is used in Nigeria traditionally as condiments and for treatment of various ailments. This study is aimed to determine the phytochemical and antimicrobial property of ethanol and aqueous extracts of O. gratissimum L . leaves. Phytochemical screening of the leave extracts confirmed the presence of Steroid, Tannins, Flavonoid, Terpenoid, Alkaloid, Saponin and Phlobatannis. Ethanol and aqueous extracts were obtained from the powdered leaves of O. gratissimum using ethanol and distilled water respectively. These were later filtered and the filtrates were concentrated in water bath at 50 o C. Mueller-Hinton agar was used for the antibacterial susceptibility using the agar well diffusion method. For ethanol extract, all the isolates were susceptible at 0.2g/mL, 0.1g/mL and 0.05g/mL concentrations. However, for aqueous extract, all the isolates were resistant at 0.05g/ml and 0.025g/ml but at 0.2g/ml concentration all the isolates were susceptible. Staphylococcus aureus was resistant at 0.1g/ml, except Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus cereus which were susceptible with a diameter 15mm, and 14mm respectively. Ciprofloxacin used as positive control also inhibited the growth of the bacterial isolates with the diameter of zone of 25mm. Results obtained from this study showed that the extracts of Ocimum gratissimum L. has antibacterial activities against the selected gastrointestinal tract pathogenic bacteria and also possess some bioactive compounds.
