PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTI-TUMOR ACTIVITIES OF SOME SELECTED MEDICINAL PLANTS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study analyzed the phytochemicals present, the anti-oxidant activities of the plants and validated the anti-cancer properties of three selected medicinal herbal remedies used by the population in Lala District, Gombi LGA, Adamawa State Nigeria. Preliminary phytochemical analysis, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the medicinal plants were carried out. Essential oils and tannins were present in all three plants while glycosides were below detectable limits in all three. One of them Anchus officinal, demonstrated good antioxidant activity with IC50 ranging from 0.50-0.45, which is lower than IC50 of Ascorbic acid (IC50 0.60 and 0.66, the standard) in both DPPH and H2O2 free radical scavengers. The brine shrimp toxicity results indicated that the plant extracts tested had LC50 values lower than 1000 μg/mL; Anchus officinalis (LC50 300.19μg/mL), is mildly toxic and probably have no obvious danger of outright toxicity during acute exposure. Thus, of the three plants, one shows the best activity; having utmost phytochemical consitituents, antioxidant activities and mild toxicity on brine shrimp.