Male rats (200-220 g) were treated with toxic doses of carbon tetrachloride (2 mL/kg per day i.p., for 3 days) to induce liver damage. Another group of rats received kolaviron, a biflavonoid extract from seeds of Garcinia kola (500 mg/kg, i.p.) 1 h prior to receiving carbon tetrachloride. Tests for liver function were performed on all animals. The activities of glutamic oxaloacetatetransaminase (GOT), glutamic pyruvate transaminase (GPT), sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH) and glutamic dehydrogenase (GLDH) in serum were determined, as were the concentrations of hepatic glutathione (GSH) and triglyceride in liver. Hepatic lipid peroxidation was assessed by measuring hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) formation in the liver. Carbon tetrachloride induced marked depletion of GSH and increased the formation of MDA and triglyceride in the liver, as well as causing significant increases in activities of the serum enzymes assessed. Pretreatment with kolaviron significantly attentuated all the alterations caused by carbon tetrachloride. The antihepatotoxic action of kolaviron was clearly demonstrated in the model of hepatitis employed in this study.

Male rats were chronically fed a diet containing dry powdered seeds of Gurciniu kola, at the level of 10% w/w for 6 weeks. The effect of this diet was investigated on gastrointestinal motility, castor oil induced diarrhoea, and pentobarbital sleeping times, as well as organ and body weights at the end of 6 weeks. Garcinia kola caused marked inhibition of gastrointestinal motility, protected against castor oil induced diarrhoea, prolonged pentobarbital sleeping time, and caused marked retardation of growth but did not affect organ weights compared to pair-fed controls. There is a possibility that the observations may be due to the flavonoids contained in G. kola seeds.

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Summary:The antispasmodic and spasmolytic effects of methanolic extract of seeds of Garcinia kola Heckel were studied on smooth muscle preparations in vitro. The influence of the extract on rat duodenum, jejunum and ileum was investigated using acetylcholine and barium chloride as agonists. The extract exhibited dose-dependent antispasmodic effects on contractions induced by acetylcholine, and dose-dependent spasmolytic effects on spasms induced by cumulatively increased concentrations of acetylcholine and barium chloride. The graded log concentration-response curves for acetylcholine were non-parallel but shifted to the right in the presence of the extract. It is concluded that the Garcinia kola extract inhibits smooth muscle activity via other mechanisms but not involving neither cholinergic nor adrenergic receptor interaction.