Browsing by Author "Amaefula, Blessing Ezinne"

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    Phytochemistry and antisickling effects of leaf and stem extracts of costus afer
    (Federal University of Technology, Owerri, 2023-10) Amaefula, Blessing Ezinne
    The antisickling effect of the stem and leaf extracts of Costus afer was investigated to determine and certain effects. This work was approached by partitioning the extracts of Costus afer stem and leaf into fat-soluble (SFSF and LFSF), ethanol-soluble fraction (SESF and LESF), and methanol-soluble fraction (SMSF and LMSF). The activities of these extracts were compared with the activities of other nutrients which have been approved and documented.The phytochemical screening was qualitatively and quantitatively determined using standard GC-MS methods. The result shows the presence of twenty (20) different phytochemicals with a wide range of functions. The most abundant phytochemical in the samples is Isolupanine with the values; 31.380 µg/ml in leaf and 29.396 µg/ml in the stem. The amino acid profiles of the extracts revealed the presence of Phenylalanine, arginine, lysine, serine, glutamic acid, methionine, and others. Glutamic acid has the highest concentration with the following values; 10.14g/100g protein and 11.65g/100g protein in leaf and stem extracts respectively. The Haemoglobin polymerization inhibition and the relative percent inhibitions were estimated. The leaf methanol soluble (LMSF) has the highest percent inhibition of 81.90 ± 0.00g on HbSS polymerization. While the lowest percent inhibition on polymerization of 22.78 ± 0.00b was observed in SFSF. Amongst all the fractions of the samples, LESF was able to exhibit the highest percent improvement in the Fe2+/Fe3+ , 282.94 ± 0.00g . The total free amino acid values range from 432.55 ± 2.05a mg/50g in the LMSF to 1,188.00 ±2.20e mg/50g in the LFSF. The total vitamin C concentration of the samples expressed in mg/1 is; 297.59 ± 33.26 in the stem and 566.15± 87.10 for the leaf. Based on the free amino acid, the vitamin C concentrations, the inhibition of HbSS polymerization, and the improvement in the Fe2+/Fe3+ ratio, the leaf and stem extracts would undoubtedly provide adequate nutritional and antisickling efficacy required for the management of sickle cell disease.