This chapter focuses on the antioxidant potential of African medicinal and food plants, their chemical constituents and their other medicinal properties.

Tomato varieties sold in Dutsin-Ma market namely, UTC, Rukuta and Dan-Aka were subjected to drying in a laboratory oven, solar drier and under direct sunlight then, powdered. The antioxidant and total lycopene contents were examined and found to be unaffected by the three drying procedures, with values ranging between 68.46% ± 0.90% to 80.77% ± 1.11% and 123.63 to 161.98 mg/kg, respectively. The ascorbic acid was also tested and values were significantly lower in all the samples subjected to sun-drying with values ranging from 17.78 ± 1.78 µg/ml to 28.44 ± 1.78 µg/ml as against 100.15 ± 1.03 µg/ml to 164.74 ± 2.06 µg/ml for oven and solar dried tomato samples (p < 0.05), respectively. Total microbial load, yeast/mould, and coliform counts were then investigated. They were too numerous to count (TNTC) in the sun-dried samples. Although, also found among samples that were oven and solar dried, counts of the microorganisms were within the acceptable standards of <10 5 for bacteria and 10 3-10 4 for fungi. While solar and oven drying presented better preservation of the tomato samples, the former offers most incentive in terms of cost and quality to farmers and the people, considering its free availability and abundance in processing dry tomato powders.

This work was about Andrographis peniculata (Burm. F). Ab initio, the LD50 test showed non-toxicity at the highest administered dose of 5000 mg/kg in rats. Male albino Wistar rats were treated with daily single doses of ethanol extracts (100/200/500 mg/kg) of Andrographis peniculata (A.p.) for 14 days with intermittent administration, i.p., of CCl4 every four days. Liver and kidney TBARS concentrations showed lower values with increased doses of extract administration. In both cases, "CCl4 + A.p. 500 mg/kg" values compared to "CCl4 + Silymarin" group, while "CCl4 + A.p. 100 mg/kg" showed no significant difference from "CCl4 only" group. The "NC" (normal control) however, presented the least concentration of 66.17 ± 2.74 and 38.04 ± 4.34 nmol/mg protein, respectively. Total and Indirect bilirubin concentrations indicated decreased values with increasing doses, such that respectively, the lowest values of 1.18 ± 0.47 and 0.98 ± 0.31 mg/dl in the "CCl4 + A.p. 500 mg/kg" group were observed. There was no significant difference among all the various groups except the "NC" which showed the least value. Urea and creatinine levels were significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) in the "CCl4 only" group than all others. Liver function parameters, viz., AST and ALT indicated significantly higher values in the "CCl4 only" group, compared to all others (p ≤ 0.05). Values obtained for "CCl4 + A.p. (500 mg/kg)" were comparable to the "NC" and "CCl4 + Silymarin" groups.

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