Background: Eating Cola acuminata and Garcinia cola nuts in African societies symbolizes in socio-cultural hospitality. They stimulate the nervous system, reduce fatigue and sleep. Objectives: To determine the phenolic composition and bioactivities of G. kola and C. acuminata. Materials and Methods: Hydro-ethanol extracts of the nuts were prepared and their phenolic profiles determined using HPLC-DAD. Antioxidant, anticholinesterase, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, antibiofilm and anti-quorum sensing properties were determined. Results: The most abundant phenolic compound was caffeic acid (105.4±0.75 mg/g) in C. acuminata and myricetin (277.2±0.90 mg/g) in G. kola. The extracts showed good antioxidant activity in five complementary assays and G. kola was more active than both α-tocopherol and BHA standards in the DPPH • , CUPRAC and ABTS •+ assays while C. acuminata was more active than only the α-tocopherol standard in the same assays. Activities were close to those of standards in the β-Carotene-linoleic acid and metal chelation assays. Both extracts had good inhibition of Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) with IC 50 values 63.27±0.98 µg/mL and 94.15±1.05 µg/mL for C. acuminata and G. kola respectively compared to 5.50±0.25 µg/mL for galantamine in the AChE assay. In the BChE assay, the inhibitory activity was higher for G. kola (IC 50 = 38.66±0.80 µg/ mL) that the standard galantamine (IC 50 = 42.20±0.48 µg/mL) while that for C. acuminata (IC 50 = 87.31±0.77 µg/mL) was moderate. The extracts inhibited α-amylase and α-glucosidase with G. kola (IC 50 =18.43±0.74 µg/mL) being more active than standard acarbose (IC 50 =20.52±0.84 µg/mL in the α-glucosidase assay. The nuts could inhibit expression of virulence factors in Chomobacterium violaceum CV12472 by disrupting violacein production and flagellated Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA01 by disrupting swarming motility. Conclusion: The results indicate good nutraceutical potential of both nuts.

No abstract

Background:Ficus glumosa Del (Moraceae), a plant used in traditional medicine in Cameroon, Senegal, and East Africa for the treatment of edema, hemorrhoid, cardiovascular diseases especially hypertension.Aim:The present study evaluated the potential toxicity of the aqueous extract of the leaves of F.glumosa in acute and sub-chronic administration in rodents.Methods:Acute toxicity was evaluated on 3 months old mice of both sexes and weighing 20-30 g. A single dose (2-12 g/kg) of F. glumosa was administered orally to mice. Animal behavior, adverse effects, and mortality were determined for 14 days. In sub-chronic toxicity studied in both sexes of 9 weeks old rats and weighing 100-120 g at the start of the experiment, animals were treated orally with a daily dose of 300, 600 and 1200 mg/kg of the aqueous extract of the leaves of F. glumosa for 6 weeks. The body weight change, food, and water consumption, were determined throughout the experimental period, while the relative organ weights, the hematological and biochemical parameters of blood and urine, as well as the histology of tissues kidney and liver, were recorded at the end of the experiment.Results:For acute treatment, no dose used induced critical behavioral changes or death. In sub-chronic treatment, daily oral administration of F. glumosa at the dose of 300, 600, and 1200 mg/kg resulted in a significant increase in body weight relative to food and water consumption in the last week of treatment. The relative organ weights were not affected by treatment. No hematological changes were observed except the significant increase in platelets. Aspartate aminotransferase, alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, total protein, increased while the total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, conjugated bilirubin, and total bilirubin significantly decreased. Index of renal function showed a decrease of creatinine, urea, uric acid and Na+, Cl− and Ca2+, and inorganic phosphate. The histology of liver and kidney showed no significant alteration of tissue.Conclusion:These observations support the traditional use of F. glumosa in the treatment of hypertension. These results have shown that F. glumosa has a safety margin for therapeutic use.

Experiments were carried out to validate the use of F. glumosa extract as a diuretic in the treatment of hypertension as claimed by traditional healers. The experiments were performed under the same conditions with two synthetic pharmacological diuretics considered as check (Furosemide and Amiloride hydrochlorothiazide). The aqueous extract leaves of F. glumosa accelerated the elimination of overloaded fluid. At the maximum of diuretic response, urinary osmolarity decreased significantly when compared with controls. The single dose treatment of the aqueous extract leaves of F. glumosa has significantly increased urine volume 24 h after administration of the extract. The stability of aldosterone level, the absence of correlation with the plasma levels of sodium, and the increased clearance of free water in the animals receiving the extract show that increased diuresis and natriuresis moderate elevation are tubular in origin. The increase in Na+, K+, and Cl− induced by the extract caused alkalinization of the urine and showed a strong inhibitory effect of carbonic anhydrase and saluretic. These effects were mainly observed at the dose of 375 mg/kg. These observations confirm the traditional use in the treatment of hypertension and support the importance of the conservation of local knowledge as well as the conservation of Cameroonian biodiversity.

Morus mesozygia Stapf (Moraceae) is a plant found in many regions and used in treating many diseases including malaria and fever. Fractionation of the methanolic extract of its stem bark, using various chromatographic methods has led to the isolation and identification of 3 flavonoids: artocarpesin, artochamin C and kushenol E. And 4 arylbenzofuran derivatives: moracin M, moracin C, moracin L and mulberofuran F. The methanolic extract and the seven isolated compounds were tested for antiplasmodial activity against the chloroquine-resistant FcB1 Plasmodium falciparum strain and cytotoxicity on MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. Relating to the antiplasmodial activity, it was found that all compounds were active against the FcB1 strain of Plasmodium with artocarpesin, koushenol E and mulberrofuran F showing particular potency (with the median inhibitory concentrations IC50 = 2.5-2.6 µg/ml). Cytotoxicity tests performed on MCF-7 cells revealed all the IC50 varying from <1.0 to 5.0 ± 0.6 µg/mL. A structure -activity relationship is discussed.