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This work was about Andrographis peniculata (Burm. F). Ab initio, the LD50 test showed non-toxicity at the highest administered dose of 5000 mg/kg in rats. Male albino Wistar rats were treated with daily single doses of ethanol extracts (100/200/500 mg/kg) of Andrographis peniculata (A.p.) for 14 days with intermittent administration, i.p., of CCl4 every four days. Liver and kidney TBARS concentrations showed lower values with increased doses of extract administration. In both cases, “CCl4 A.p. 500 mg/kg” values compared to “CCl4 Silymarin” group, while “CCl4 A.p. 100 mg/kg” showed no significant difference from “CCl4 only” group. The “NC” (normal control) however, presented the least concentration of 66.17 ± 2.74 and 38.04 ± 4.34 nmol/mg protein, respectively. Total and Indirect bilirubin concentrations indicated decreased values with increasing doses, such that respectively, the lowest values of 1.18 ± 0.47 and 0.98 ± 0.31 mg/dl in the “CCl4 A.p. 500 mg/kg” group were observed. There was no significant difference among all the various groups except the “NC” which showed the least value. Urea and creatinine levels were significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) in the “CCl4 only” group than all others. Liver function parameters, viz., AST and ALT indicated significantly higher values in the “CCl4 only” group, compared to all others (p ≤ 0.05). Values obtained for “CCl4 A.p. (500 mg/kg)” were comparable to the “NC” and “CCl4 Silymarin” groups. more...

Tomato varieties sold in Dutsin-Ma market namely, UTC, Rukuta and Dan-Aka were subjected to drying in a laboratory oven, solar drier and under direct sunlight then, powdered. The antioxidant and total lycopene contents were examined and found to be unaffected by the three drying procedures, with values ranging between 68.46% ± 0.90% to 80.77% ± 1.11% and 123.63 to 161.98 mg/kg, respectively. The ascorbic acid was also tested and values were significantly lower in all the samples subjected to sun-drying with values ranging from 17.78 ± 1.78 μg/ml to 28.44 ± 1.78 μg/ml as against 100.15 ± 1.03 μg/ml to 164.74 ± 2.06 μg/ml for oven and solar dried tomato samples (p < 0.05), respectively. Total microbial load, yeast/mould, and coliform counts were then investigated. They were too numerous to count (TNTC) in the sun-dried samples. Although, also found among samples that were oven and solar dried, counts of the microorganisms were within the acceptable standards of more...

Medicinal plant cultivation is more of a rarity than common in Nigeria, similar to other areas in Africa, where these unquantifiable resources are rather shoddily harvested from the wild. This review identifies five cultivated medicinal plants species of Nigeria, i.e.: Vernonia amygdalina Del, Cyperus esculentus, Cymbopogon citratus Stapf, Khaya senegalensis (Desv.) A. Juss and Moringa oleifera Lam with purported biological and pharmacognostic effects and relates these effects to their phytochemical constituents, where possible. The findings are arranged according to general aspects, cultivation practices, post-harvest handling, production schedules and utilization are discussed. There appears to be no available information on Khaya senegalensis (Desv.) A. Juss. with respect to cultivars, grading, packing and storage. The low number and lack of comprehensive literature on cultivated medicinal plants, seems to be an indication of a near or total lack of attention or interest on the issue of medicinal plant conservation in Nigeria, and hence, this contribution could be regarded a wake-up call. more...

With its location in an extensive geographical area that spread from the Mangrove forest in the south to the Sahel savannah in the north, Nigeria has diverse tropical vegetation with varying economic and medicinal significance. The vegetation, among other uses is a source of herbal medicine on which a large proportion of its populace relies for primary health care. Trees have a large repository of phytochemicals, to which the various pharmacological and therapeutic attributes can be ascribed. This article is a concise review of nine trees with medicinal importance belonging to eight families, which are widely used in Nigerian traditional and indigenous medicine. For each plant, information on the taxonomy, morphology, geographical distribution, ecological requirements, major chemical constituents and bioactive compounds, traditional uses and medicinal uses based on biological activities, as well as uses supported by clinical data are provided. more...

In the twentieth century, science makes substantial breakthrough in management and cure of diseases by chemotherapy due to discovery of antibiotics and other chemotherapeutic agents. In the twenty first century, man and other animals are still, however being challenged by emergence of new infectious and non-infectious diseases that have proven to be resistant to the available novel therapeutic drugs. The available orthodox medications have either been ineffective against some causative agents of these diseases; too costly or basically unavailable to the average citizen of developing countries like Nigeria. The use of herbal remedies for prevention, management and cure of diseases is as old as antiquity, yet still common practice among the African population. A number of plants used in traditional herbal medicine have been evaluated by different researchers. This book chapter provides a concise review of traditional use, phytochemical contents, pharmacognostic and biological activities of some wild herbaceous plants that of medicinal importance in Nigeria. Plants including; Cuminium cyminum Linn, Rauwolfia vomitoria Afzel, Cassia sieberiana D.C, Piliostigma thonningii (Schumach.) Milne-Redh, Guiera senegalensis J.F.Gmel, Acalypha indica Linn, Euphorbia hirta Linn, Euphobia unispina N.E.Br, Phyllantus muellerianus (Kuntze) Exell, Senna occidenatlis Linn and Grewia mollis Juss are comprehensively reviewed. Phytochemicals like glycosides, alkaloids, polyphenols, flavonoids, phytosterols, terpenoids, saponins etc are widely reported to be present in various parts of these plants. The traditional herbal use of the plants in management and cure of ailments, as well as reported biological and pharmacological activities were linked to the presence of these phytochemicals. Based on the information reviewed, it is concluded that these wild herbaceous plants are potential sources of new natural bioactive substances that could be explored and exploited for their therapeutic and industrial applications. more...

Volatile oil rich spices cannot be sterilised by pasteurisation because of the presence of thermal-sensitive components. In this article, we report the effect of irradiation on the volatile constituents of Monodora myristica. The samples were irradiated at ambient conditions at dose levels of 0 and 15 kGy using a linear accelerator at a dose rate of approximately 10(7) Gy s(-1). The volatile oil was extracted via headspace analysis and the quantification carried out with a HP-5MS fused silica column. Twenty-three constituents were identified with alpha-phellandrene as the major constituent (53%). Electron-beam irradiation of M. myristica did not significantly affect the volatile constituent profile at 15 kGy. Except alpha-thujene, which was increased from 7.18% to 16.76%, the most affected constituents were those that constitute less than 0.10% of the oil. Irradiation could be an effective way for decontamination of M. myristica. more...

The methanol extracts of all the various parts of Morinda lucida were studied in vivo for anti-peroxidative, protective and ameliorative effects against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced hepatocellular injury. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) concentration taken as a measure of lipid peroxidation showed pre-treatment with the parts each (100 mg/kg) conferring anti-peroxidative effect while the leaf and bark extracts showed anti-peroxidative effect in the post-treatment test. Markers of hepatic damage viz: AST, ALT, total and conjugated bilirubin also showed significant protection and amelioration against CCl4-induced liver damage. Lipid profile studies like TG, TC, LDL and HDL showed no statistical difference among the pre-treatment groups and the ‘normal control’ except in the ‘Root+CCl4’ or ‘Leaf+CCl4’ groups which also showed no difference statistically from the ‘CCl4 only’ group. In the post-treatment (ameliorative) tests also, no statistical difference was found among the groups compared with the ‘normal control’ except the ‘CCl4 + Root’ and ‘CCl4 + Leaf’ groups which bore no statistical difference from the ‘CCl4 only’ group, as per LDL and HDL respectively. Findings here show the anti-peroxidative and protective properties of Morinda lucida comparable to Vitamins C and E, and ameliorative properties comparable to Silymarin against liver injury. These could possibly be reasons supporting its application in folkloric medicine. more...

The acute toxicity and dose-response studies of methanol extracts of the fruit (MFE), leaf (MLE), bark (MBE) and root (MRE) of Morinda lucida were investigated in adult male albino rats (Wistar strain) weighing between 180 – 250g. They were orally administered (p.o) with the various extracts by observing Lorke’s method. The median lethal dose (LD50) was greater than 5000 mg/kg for all the extracts tested and without any observable sign of toxicity. The genotoxic and geno-protective properties of all the MFE, MLE, MBE and MRE on pUC18 plasmid DNA were also studied, in the presence of Fenton’s reagent using the plasmid nicking assay method. While MFE, MBE and MRE offered better protection to pUC18 plasmid DNA at lower doses particularly at 10 μg/μl, MLE was genotoxic at all the doses as evidenced by the presence of DNA linear forms. While parts of Morinda lucida showed no visible toxicity even at very high doses, they proved to be genotoxic to pUC18 plasmid DNA at higher concentrations. more...