Title: BIOLOGICAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL INVESTIGATION OF EXTRACTS OF Tapinanthus bangwensis (ENGL. AND K. KRAUSE) DANSER [LORANTHACEAE] GROWN IN NIGERIA
Abstract: Tapinanthus bangwensis is a parasitic woody shrub traditionally employed to cure various ailments in Nigeria including leprosy, rickets, rheumatism, cough, skin and respiratory diseases. The crude organic extracts of T. bangwensis were subjected to bioassays - cytotoxicity antibacterial and antidiabetic. The cytotoxicity assay was carried out using brine shrimp lethality test (BSLT), the antibacterial activity was performed against five micro-organisms - Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiellia rhinoscheromatis, Staphyloccocus aureus and Bacillus subtilis using agar diffusion procedure while anti-diabetic potential was determined using alloxan-induced Swiss male albino rat with automated glucometer. The preliminary phytochemical investigation of the plant was done using standard procedure. LC values for BSLT ranged from 12.38to 189.84 µg/mL with ethyl 50 acetate extract of leaves having the lowest value12.38 µg/mL. The ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of both stem and leaves showed moderate to strong antibacterial activities. There was reduction of 71.8 % in the blood glucoses level of alloxan-induced rats on day 3 while glibenclimade gave 53.0 %. All the extracts exhibited significant reduction (P˂0.05)in the blood glucose level of hyperglyceamic alloxan-induced rats. Phytochemical investigation of the extracts revealed the presence of tannins, steroids, anthraquinones and glycosides while alkaloids and flavonoids were absent.