Antitumor, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Bersama engleriana (Melianthaceae)
Introduction
Bersama engleriana Gurke (Melianthaceae) is a tree occurring in forests and forest margins of tropical and subtropical Africa. This plant as well as many plants of the genus Bersama is traditionally used in the treatment of cancer, spasms, infectious diseases, male infertility and diabetes (Kupchan et al., 1971, Bowen et al., 1985, Makonnen and Hagos, 1993, Iwu, 1993). The hypoglycemic activity as well as the sexual stimulant effects of the extract from the leaves of this plant was previously reported on rats (Njike et al., 2005, Watcho et al., 2007). In the present study, we report the antitumor, antioxidant, antimicrobial activities as well as the acute toxicity of the methanolic extracts of the roots, stem bark, leaves and wood of Bersama engleriana.
Section snippets
Plant material and extraction
Different parts of Bersama engleriana Gurke (roots, stem bark, leaves and wood) were collected from Bafou, West province of Cameroon in January 2007. The botanical identification of the plants was done at the Cameroon National Herbarium, where the voucher specimen was conserved under the reference number 24725/HNC.
These plant materials were air-dried at room temperature and powdered. Then 500 g of each powder were macerated in methanol (2.5 l) at room temperature for 48 h. The filtrate was then
Results and discussions
The results of the phytochemical studies showed that all the tested extracts contain flavonoids, phenols, triterpenes and anthraquinones. Saponins were present in BER, BEB and BEL while none of the tested extracts contained alkaloids. The isolation of triterpenes and saponins from the stem bark of Bersama engleriana was previously reported by Tapondjou et al. (2006), and the results of this investigation is in accordance with their study.
In the antitumor experiment, it appeared from the results
Acknowledgements
Authors acknowledge the technical support of the Institut Appert (Paris, France), the A.F.R.C. Reading Laboratory (Great Britain), the ‘Centre Pasteur du Cameroun’, the National Herbarium of Cameroon and that of Mme Brenda Mapunya of the University of Pretoria. Dr. Victor Kuete is very grateful to the Third World Academy of Science (TWAS) for its financial support through the 2007 training program, and also to the Department of Plant Science, University of Pretoria (South Africa) for its
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