ABSTRACT
The phytochemical screening of Terminalia avicennoids was carried out using qualitative method to determine the bioactive compounds present in the plant root, stem and leave extracts. Cooled Maceration method was used for the extraction. Hundred grams (100 g) of each powder was soaked in 1000 ml of distilled water, allowed to stand for 5 hours. The suspension was agitated after 30 minutes. The filtrate was thereafter separated from residue using No. 1 Whatman filter paper and concentrated using rotary evaporator. The crude extracts were separately kept in a screw capped bottle for further research. The bioactive compound in the plants were detected using AOAC method. The result revealed that alkaloid, flavonoid, tannin, saponins, phenol and glycoside were detected in the plants while steroid was not detected in the plants. Therefore, the presence of these phytocompounds is an indicative that the plant is medicinal and it can be used for the treatment of bacterial and fungal infections.
ABSTRACT
Effect of the aqueous leaf extract of I. gabonensis on the gastrointestinal tract was investigated on isolated rabbit jejunum, guinea pig ileum, gastrointestinal motility, castor oil-induced diarrhoea in mice and castor oil-induced fluid accumulation in rats. The results showed that the extract exhibited a concentration-dependent relaxation of spontaneous pendular movement of isolated rabbit jejunum and guinea pig ileum, and attenuated both acetylcholine-induced contraction of rabbit jejunum and histamine-induced contraction of guinea pig ileum. The extract (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) also caused a significant dose-dependent decrease of gastrointestinal motility in mice (40.12, 39.45 and 37.45%), intestinal fluid accumulation in rats (71.43, 81.63 and 83.27%), and remarkably protected mice against castor oil-induced diarrhoea [58.33, 75 and 91.67% (Di Carlo score)] respectively. Preliminary phytochemical screening of the aqueous leaf extract of I. gabonensis revealed the presence of saponins, tannins, phenols and phlobatanins.