CYTOTOXICITY AND ANTIOXIDANT SCREENING OF SOME SELECTED NIGERIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS

摘要

for cytotoxicity and anti oxidant activities using standard methods. The results revealed that all the selected plants were relatively non-toxic. This bioactivity study using brine-shrimps gave LC50 = 1175.16 |ìg/ml for the most inhibitory activity in Gongronema latifolia leaf .The extracts possessed very low cytotoxicty to brine shrimps when compared to reference standard potassium dichromate LC50=180.142 |ìg/ml). G. latifolia contained the highest amount of bioactive constituents. The importance or relevance of the phytochemical constituents is discussed with respect to the role of these plants in ethnomedicine in Nigeria. Rapid radical scavenging screening using thin layer chromatographic plate (TLC) indicated that G. latifolia had the highest antioxidant capacity. The high amount of the photochemical (polyphenol) is attributable to more potent radical scavenging effects as shown by G. latifolia stem and leaf extracts. From these results we infer that the plants are relatively safe for the purposes utilized.