PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND TOXICITY EVALUATION OF ACETONE, AQUEOUS AND METHANOLIC LEAF EXTRACTS OF AGAPANTHUS PRAECOX WILLD
AbstractAgapanthus praecox Willd of the family Amaryllidaceae is widely used in South African traditional medicine to treat heart disease, paralysis, coughs, colds, chest pains and diarrhoea. The decoction is used to prevent pregnancy complications and argument labour. The study aims at determining the phytochemical constituents and investigating the potential toxicity of the solvent extracts of A. praecox. Quantitative phytochemical analysis was done using standard procedures and spectro-photometric techniques while the toxicity assessment was carried out with brine shrimp toxicity bioassay. The data were subjected to two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s test. Methanol had the highest percentage yield of extract (16.2 %) while water (9.3 %) was the least. The quantities of tannins (335.23 mg g-1), phenols (91.11 mg g-1), proanthocyanidins (139.47 mg g-1), flavonoids (46.53 mg g-1) and flavanols (74.02 mg g-1) in acetone extract were significantly higher (p > 0.05) than in aqueous and methanolic extracts. Highest hatching success was recorded in aqueous extract (50.33%) and the lowest hatching success (p < 0.05) was recorded in the positive control (amoxicillin). The LC50 of all the solvent extracts was greater than 1mg/mL (LC50 > 1 mg/mL) while the positive control (amoxicillin) had a lesser LC50 (0.76 mg/mL). Organic solvents of fresh leaves of A. praecox contained significant phytochemicals that were not toxic according to Meyer’s index of toxicity, which states that any substance with LC50 > 1mg/mL were considered non-toxic. Further toxicological evaluation assays are recommended to confirm the toxicity of A. praecox.
Article Information
51
5342-5348
408
1166
English
IJPSR
O. J. Sharaibi and A. J. Afolayan*
Medicinal Plants and Economic Development Research Centre, Department of Botany, University of Fort Hare, South Africa.
aafolayan@ufh.ac.za
04 April, 2017
19 May, 2017
29 June, 2017
10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.8(12).5342-48
01 December, 2017