African Medicinal Plants

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Protective Effect of Aframomum meleguetaphenolics

Protective Effect of Aframomum melegueta phenolics Against CCl 4 -Induced Rat Hepatocytes Damage; Role of Apoptosis and Pro-inflammatory Cytokines inhibition Abstract Aframomum melegueta is a commonly used African spice. Through a hepatoprotective bioassay-guided isolation, the chloroform fraction of A.melegueta seeds yielded one new diarylheptanoid named 3-( S )-acetyl-1-(4′-hydroxy-3′, 5′-di methoxyphenyl)-7-(3″,4″, 5″-trihydroxyphenyl)heptane (1), and two new hydroxyphenylalkanones, [8]-dehydrogingerdione (2) and [6]-dehydroparadol (3), in addition to six known compounds (4–9). The hepatoprotective effect of A . melegueta methanol extract, sub-fractions and isolated compounds was investigated using carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 )-induced liver injury in a rat hepatocytes model. The methanol, chloroform extracts and compounds 1, 5, 8 and 9 of A. melegueta significantly inhibited the elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), thi...

Cytotoxicity of four Aframomum species (A. arundinaceum, A. alboviolaceum, A. kayserianum and A. polyanthum) towards multi-factorial drug resistant cancer cell lines

Cytotoxicity of four Aframomum species ( A. arundinaceum, A. alboviolaceum, A. kayserianum and A. polyanthum ) towards multi-factorial drug resistant cancer cell lines Background The search for natural products as potential cytotoxic agents has yielded promising candidates. However multidrug resistance (MDR) is still a major hurdle for patients receiving chemotherapy. In the present study, we evaluated the cytotoxicity of the methanol extracts of four dietary Aframomum plant species ( A. arundinaceum, A. alboviolaceum, A. kayserianum and A. polyanthum ) against nine sensitive and MDR cancer cell lines. We have also identified the bioactive constituents of A. arundinaceum . Methods The cytotoxicity of the methanol extracts of the above plants was determined using a resazurin reduction assay. Chromatographic techniques were used to isolate the constituents of A. arundinaceum. Results A preliminary experiment o...

FRAMOMUM MELEGUETA - ALLIGATOR PEPPER.

FRAMOMUM MELEGUETA - ALLIGATOR PEPPER. Synonym Aframomum grana-paradisi, Alpinia grana-paradisi, Amomum melegueta. Common name Alligator pepper, atar, graines de paradis, grains of paradise, grana paradise, grani de Meleguetta, grani de paradiso, guinea grains, malagettapfeffer, malaguette, nengrekondre pepre, paradies kõrner, paradijs korrels, poivre de Guinée. Family Zingerberaceae (Ginger family). Overview Alligator pepper is an herbaceous tropical perennial growing up to 5' tall; originally from West Africa, brought over to Surinam by the slaves. It grows now abundantly in Suriname. This plant has lanceolate leaves up to 9" long. The trumpet-shaped, purple flowers develop into 5 - 7 cm long grayish - brown, wrinkled dried pods (capsules) containing the numerous very small seeds. These are almost oval in shape, hard, shiny, and have a reddish-brown color. The important parts of this plant are the seeds and rhizomes; the small (3-4 mm =1/8") reddish ...

Aframomum melegueta (Grains of paradise) is not Alligator pepper part 2

Aframomum melegueta (Grains of paradise) is not Alligator pepper part 2 Posted on February 10, 2014 by Ayo “I put a few between my teeth and crunched. They cracked like coriander releasing a billowing aroma, and then a slowly intensifying heat, like pepper at the back of my mouth. The taste changes in a second. The heat lingered. But the spice flavor was pleasantly tempered, ripe with flavors reminiscent of jasmine, hazelnut, butter and citrus, and with the kind of oiliness you get from nuts. They were entirely different from black peppercorns and in my mind, incomparably better.” ...