African Medicinal Plants

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 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. 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 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.”                                                               ...

Toxicological evaluation of Grains of Paradise ( Aframomum melegueta ) [Roscoe] K. Schum Nebojsa Ilic , b   Barbara M. Schmidt , a   Alexander Poulev , a  and  Ilya Raskin a, * Author information ►   Copyright and License information ► The publisher's final edited version of this article is available at  J Ethnopharmacol See other articles in PMC that  cite  the published article. Go to: Abstract Ethnopharmacological relevance Grains of Paradise ( Aframomum melegueta  [Roscoe] K. Schum.) seeds are used in West Africa as a remedy for variety of ailments such as stomachache, snakebite, diarrhea and they have reported anti-inflammatory properties. Additionally, the seeds contain gingerols and related compounds that may be useful against cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and inflammation. Aim of study A 28-day sub-chronic toxicity study in male and female Sprague Dawley rats was conducted to eval...