Search

Neptunia oleracea (Lourd.) Mimosaceae is a plant commonly used in traditional medicine for the treatment of several pathologies such as dysentery, jaundice, leucorrhoea, troubles of earache, among others. Aim: The purpose of this study was to carry out preliminary phytochemical screening, acute toxicity studies and to evaluate the effect of the aqueous and hydro-ethanolic extracts of N. oleracea on intestinal motility in vivo. Methodology: Preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening was conducted using standard procedures while acute toxicity studies was performed using OECD method. The effect of N. oleracea extracts on intestinal motility was evaluated using on normal and acetylcholine-induced transits. Results: Preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening of aqueous and hydro-ethanolic extracts of N. oleracea revealed the presence of similar constituents including steroids, triterpenoids, saponins, tannins, flavonoids, anthocyanidins, coumarins and carbohydrates. Alkaloids was absent in both the extracts. The oral median lethal dose (LD50) for both extracts was estimated to be 5000 mg/kg. The effect of extracts on intestinal peristalsis in mice showed that the aqueous and hydro-ethanolic extracts of N. oleracea stimulate normal intestinal transit by 1.29 and 8.54% respectively at the dose of 50 mg/kg body weight, thus there was inhibition at higher doses. These extracts potentiate acetylcholine-induced intestinal transit by 23.9 and 14.39% respectively at 500 mg/kg body weight. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the aqueous and hydro-ethanolic extracts of Neptunia oleracea contain bioactive constituents that have practically no toxic effect. This could justify the many forms of use of this plant in traditional medicine.

The water distilled oil obtained from rhizomes of Cochlospermum planchonii Hook.f.ex Planch (Apocynaceae) from Burkina Faso was examined by GC and GC/MS. Cochlospermum planchonii oil presents a particular chemical composition with a high rate of oxygenated components with predominance of ketones and esters (86.4%). The essential oil was tested against twelve strains of bacteria using a broth microdilution method. The results suggest that Cochlospermum planchonii essential oil has significant bactericidal activity.

Vitex simplicifolia Oliv. (Verbenaceae) is a perennial shrub or small tree which grows to a height of aproximatively 8 m and is widely distributed from Egypt to Guinea. In Burkina Faso, the plant is used for internal or external use to treat various diseases like skin diseases, dermatitis, bilharzia, migraines, fever, aches, amoebiasis, sore teeth, colic, infant tetanus(Nacoulma,1996). Our ethnobotanical investigations have revealed that this plant is also used in the treatment of skin infections and wounds healing. In Burkina Faso, infectious diseases are the leading cause of infant mortality (2.37%) and maternal (14.6%), therefore they constitute public health problems. The treatment of skin diseases dates back to ancient times, and many treatments were using medicinal plants. About 30% of traditional remedies are used to treat wounds and skin lesions, compared to only 1-3% of modern drugs (Mantle et al., 2001). The healing process is an immune response that begins after injury and takes place in three stages: vascular and inflammatory stage, phase of tissue repair and phase of maturation. A drug having simultaneously the potential antioxidant and antimicrobial activities may be a good therapeutic agent to accelerate cicatrization and wound healing [Houghton et al., 2005; Phillips et al., 1991; Heike et al., 1999]. Aromatherapy is now considered to be another alternative way in healing people, and therapeutic values of aromatic plants lie in their volatile constituents such as monoterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids and phenolic compounds that produce a definite physiological action on the human body [Bruneton, 1993].To the best of our knowledge, there is no report on pharmacological studies of this plant. The present work reported results of a detailed investigation of

The water-distilled oils obtained from rhizomes of two Zingiberales (Zingiber officinale Roscoe-Zingiberaceae and Sarcophrynium prionogonium K.Schum.—Marantaceae) from the Central African Republic were examined by GC and GC/MS. Z. officinale oil presents a classical chemical composition with a high rate of citral (34.6%) and 1,8-cineole (10.4%) among the monoterpenes. The oil of S. prionogonium is characterized by a high proportion of camphor (31%) along with isoborneol (8.5%) and borneol (3.7%).

The cytotoxic and anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv activities of hydro-alcoholic extract of Lannea acida A. Rich (Anacardiaceae) were assessed. The cytoxicity evaluation was carried out on THP1 monocytoid cell line (after 24 h at 1; 5 and 10 microg mL(-1)) and showed only a slight modification of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release. The rate of monocytes in different stages of mitosis had been amended in absence and presence of extract as follows: Go/G1 58.83-59.83%; synthesis 21.95-18.64%; mitosis 16.67-15.77%; necrosis 2.65-5.64%. The percentage of inhibition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis proliferation was respectively 77.6 and 36.8% at 1.2 and 0.6 mg mL(-1) of extract. This is an interesting experimental study on antimicrobial and immune-stimulating properties of Lannea acida ethanol-water (70% v/v) extract which may contain potential antibacterial and immune-stimulating agents for clinical use.

The antioxidant activity of the essential oil was investigated using 2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay and the -carotene bleaching test. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) was employed as a positive control. The essential oil showed antioxidant and DPPH radical scavenging activities, and it displayed the inhibition of lipid peroxidation. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the essential oil of Canarium schweinfurthii from Centrafrican Republic were also evaluated against twelve strains of bacteria and three strains of fungi using agar diffusion and broth microdilution methods. The essential oil showed antimicrobial activity against almost the strains studied. The results suggest that C. schweinfurthii essential oil could be a natural antimicrobial and antioxidant agent.

The composition of the essential oil from the leaves of Tithonia diversifolia were studied by capillary gas chromatography. The analysis using a combination of retention indices and combined GC/MS led to the identification of 20 components. The oil contains mainly monoterpenoids (88.2%) out of which 87.4% are monoterpene hydrocarbons and some sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (8%). The major constituent was (Z)-β-ocimene (40.2%).

The bark oils obtained by hydrodistillation from Entandophragma cylindricum Sprague growing in Cameroon and in Central Africa Republic were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The major constituents of both oils were δ-cadinene (9.1–22.9%), α-copaene (6.5–21.9%) and T-cadinol (17.5–27.6%); however, the Cameroonian oil was found to be completely devoid of monoterpenoid compounds, whereas the Central African sample contained about 15% monoterpenoids.

A polyacrylic resin with pendant chirality has been used as a chiral auxiliary. The prochiral ester enolate, reversibly linked to the polymer chain via a Schiff base, is surrounded by chiral pendants, allowing supramolecular asymmetric induction to occur. Amino acids with enantiomeric excesses up to 88–89% could be synthesized from supported glycine t-butyl ester enolate by reaction with alkyl halides. Enantioselective protonation depends on the initial configuration of the supported aminoacid. Alanine was obtained in 90% ee by repetitive asymmetric protonation.

The essential oils obtained from seeds and leaves of Aframomum melegueta have been analyzed by GC and GC/MS; in both samples the major component is β-pinene (>30%) but these oils differ by their other constituents. The leaf oil is found to be rich in oxygenated mono- and sesquiterpenoids (45%), whereas the seed oil contains about 50% of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons