Brine shrimp lethality and antimicrobial studies on the seeds of Garcinia kola (Heckel)

Abstract

Garcinia kola (Family, Guttiferae) is employed in a variety of therapies ranging from skin, gastrointestinal, chest to tumour problems. Preparations of the stem and roots are used as antitumour in traditional medicine but the potential of the seeds as antitumour had not yet been investigated hence the brine-shrimp lethality and as well as the antimicrobial studies on the seed were carried out. The crude ethanolic extract and methanol fraction elicited good antibacterial activity against S. aureus, B. subtilis and, to some extent, E. coli but gave minimal activity against Ps. Aeruginosa and none against fungal isolates (Aspergillus spp and C. albicans). The brine shrimp lethality assay, analysed using the Finney probit method, showed that the aqueous and crude ethanolic extracts and methanol fraction displayed ‘marginal' LD50 values at 565ppm, 349ppm and 316ppm respectively compared with literature values below 200ppm which are generally considered “significant”. These findings indicate the potential of the seeds as panacea for infectious ailments and therefore scientific justification to some of the folkloric uses of the plant.


Key words: Brine-shrimp lethality; Antimicrobial; Seeds; Garcinia kola
Journal of Pharmacy and Bioresources Vo. 2 (1) 2004: 29-35