Pharmacological Screening of Anthocleista nobilis Root Bark

Abstract

Pharmacological activities of the root bark of A. nobilis were tested in vivo and in vitro. The plant material was defatted with petroleum ether and then extracted with 70% ethanol. The LD 50 of the ethanol extract in mice at 24 h was 200 mg/kg, i.p. Poisoned mice showed neurologic signs prior to death. The extract showed no significant effect on pentobarbitone-induced hypnosis in mice after an i.p. injection. On oral administration of 67 mg/kg, the ethanol extract reduced pentobarbitone-induced sleep in CCl 4 -poisoned mice, an effect which was comparable to that of silibinin. Elevation of serum GOT and GPT induced by CCl 4 intoxication in rats were also significantly attenuated by the ethanol extract. The extract did not reduce the level of parasitaemia in mice infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei. It induced a concentration-dependent relaxation in isolated guinea-pig ileum. The active principle responsible for the effect on the guinea-pig ileum appeared to be contained in the polar fraction of the extract.

Key Words:

• Anthocleista nobilis
• extract
• pharmacological properties