COMPARATIVE PHYTOCHEMICAL, PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND ANTIMICROBIAL PROPERTIES OF THE LEAF, FRUIT, STEM BARK AND ROOT OF PAVETTA CRASSIPES (K. SCHUM)
NNEKA
NNEKA NWAMAKA IBEKWE*, JAMIU ABDULLAHI BELLO, MAHMOOD ABDULKARIM, FLORENCE DAVID TARFA
Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Quality Control, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development
Afr. J Pharm Res Dev; Volume 14(2): 087-095 ; 2022
ABSTRACT
Pavetta crassipes, a shrub distributed in Africa, is an important plant eaten as food and with therapeutic applications in traditional medicine. Reports on the medicinal, chemical and pharmacological properties are mainly on the leaves, with little or no investigation on the other plant parts. The study aimed to examine and compare the phytochemical, physicochemical, mineral element contents, and antimicrobial properties of the leaf, stem bark, root and fruit of P. crassipes. Standard methods were employed and elemental contents were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The antimicrobial potentials were evaluated by the agar well diffusion method. Phytochemical screening detected alkaloids, terpenes, flavonoids, tannins and saponins in all the plant parts. The phenolic and flavonoid content was highest in the leaf with 77.26 mg GAE/g and 52.44 mg QE/g, respectively. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) analysis established the presence of rutin in the leaf only. The physicochemical properties ranged from 4.89‒6.03 % for moisture, 3.67‒13.55 % for total ash and 1.42‒1.95 % for acid insoluble ash contents in the plant parts. Iron was the major constituent in all plant parts while sodium, lead and chromium were not detected. The extracts of the leaf, root and fruit inhibited the growth of P. aeruginosa, B. subtilis and S. aureus, respectively at 100 mg/mL, with diameters between 13 and 17 cm. The leaves, root and fruits are potential sources of drugs and thus, widens the scope of study on P. crassipes for further phytochemical and pharmacological studies on the plant.
Email of correspondence: nnekaibekwe@yahoo.com;
KEYWORDS: Pavetta crassipes; physicochemical; phytochemical; antimicrobial; thin layer chromatography; elemental analysis.