Inhibition of Sheep Liver Cholinesterase Enzyme by the Leaf Extracts of Anogeisus leiocarpus.

Abstract

Anogeisus leiocarpus is known to be one of the most active ingredient responsible for the chemotherapy of tuberculosis in West Africa and Nigeria in particular. The powdered leaves were percolated with ethanol for one week and the crude extract was labeled as FE01. This was successively macerated with n-hexane, chloroform and n-butanol. Their corresponding soluble fractions were labeled as FH01, FC01 and FB01 respectively. All the crude extract fractions were subjected to anticholinesterase enzyme assay and were found to arrest the function of acetyl cholinesterase enzyme even at low concentration of 5 Cg/cm³. The efficacies of these crude extract were comparable to that of Huperzine A as a reference standard for cholinesterase inhibition. The anticholinesterase assay serves as an indicator system whose analysis always correspond to the bioluminescent Mycobacterium aurum or tuberculosis expressing firefly luciferase.

Keywords: Anogeisus leiocarpus, extraction, cholinesterase enzyme, Mycobacterium aurum.