The blood glucose- lowering potentials of ethanol leaf extract of Annona muricata were studied. Thirty wistar albino rats were divided into six groups of five rats per group. Group 1 served as “Normal control” animals and received normal rat pellets and water. Diabetes mellitus was induced in Groups 2, 3, 4, and 5 by intraperitoneal injection of alloxan (130 mg/kg). Group 6 rats were administered with 400 mg/kg daily of the extract without induction; group 3 rats were treated with glibenclamide (5 mg/kg body weight), groups 4 and 5 received 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg body weight of A. muricata leaf extract daily respectively throughout the duration of the experiment of 14 days. Group 2 rats were induced but not treated with any drug, thus it served as the “Negative control” group. Quantitative phytochemical analysis of the leaf extract was carried out using the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) methods. Acute toxicity test of the leaf extract of A. muricata was determined using 12 rats by Lorke’s toxicity testing method. The blood glucose levels of the animals in each group were determined using Accu-chek test strip method. The weights of the animals were determined using a standard electronic weighing balance. The result of the quantitative phytochemical analysis of the leaf showed that the ethanol leaf extract contains the following: phenols (74 mg/100 g), flavonoids (3.70 mg/100 g), tannins (2.95 mg/100 g), oxalate (6.48 mg/100 g), terpenoid (13.88 mg/100 g), phytates (130 mg/100 g), saponins (6800 mg/100 g), alkaloids (570 mg/100 g), cardiac glycoside (1690 mg/100g). Acute toxicity studies showed that LD50 was 3807.89 mg/kg body weight. The results of the average blood glucose levels (mg/dl) of the rats in each group were group 1, 82.6071±7.7524, group 2, 309.3571±163.6923, group 3, 226.7143±132.8182, group 4, 146.5000±140.1465, group 5, 150.4783±81.8340, and group 6, 83.4643±12.5329 for each group respectively. The average body weights of the rats in each group were group 1, 192.8571±22.5844, group 2, 185.7143±33.6759, group 3, 177.1429±36.67500, group 4, 219.2857±21.2908, group 5, 119.5455±23.5993, and group 6, 191.7857±25.2475. The findings from this study suggest that ethanolic leaf extract of A. muricata has notable effect in lowering blood glucose levels in diabetic rats and is a more potent drug in the treatment and management of diabetes mellitus and oxidative stress- related diseases.

This study aimed at carrying out a qualitative phytochemical screening, GC-MS studies and in-vitro antioxidant properties of aqueous leaf extract of Gnetum africanum. The qualitative phytochemical screening of the aqueous leaf extract of Gnetum africanum was done using standard procedures and revealed the presence of terpenoids, saponins, tannins, steroids, flavonoids, alkaloids, cardiac glucosides and phenols. The GC-MS screening revealed the presence of 14 compounds, 6 out of the 14 compounds were most prominent. The compound with the highest percentage peak area was caffeine with peak area of 96.9%, followed by n-Hexadacanotic acid with peak area of 60.9%, 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol with peak area of 55.9%, tetradacanoic acid with peak area of 50.3%, cyclopentaneundecanoic acid with peak area of 47.8% and 2-cyclo-penten-1-2-hydroxy with peak area of 43.6% respectively. In-vitro determination of antioxidant property of leaf extract of Gnetum africanum was done photometrically using 2,2-dyhenyl-l-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The DPPH scavenging ability of the leaf extract (43.2, 60.5, 68.8, and 75.7) was statistically significant at p<0.05 when compared with the standard drug ascorbic acid (81.1, 82.6, 85.1, and 90.4) % at 10, 20, 30 and 40 mg/l. In conclusion, the leaf extract of Gnetum africanum is loaded with a host of important phytochemicals and has antioxidant properties which increase in potency with increase dose. Keywords: Phytochemical Screening, GCMS Studies, Anti-Oxidant, Gnetum africanum

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