GC-MS analysis of raw and roasted seeds of Chrysophyllum albidum, a medicinal plant used for the treatment of tuberculosis

Abstract

Tuberculosis is a multi-systematic disease with myriad presentations and manifestations and is the most common cause of infectious disease-related mortality worldwide. The disease is treated with the roasted cotyledonous part of Chrysophyllum albidum seeds by traditional practitioners in Ogun state, Nigeria. The phytoconstituents of the hexane fraction and the hexane extracts of the roasted seeds at 50o C, 100o C and 120o C were investigated using GC-MS analysis. The results showed the hexane fraction of the raw seeds contained 92.71 % by proportion of esters of long chain fatty acids. The hexane extract of roasted seeds (50o C) contained 68.69 % of long chain fatty acids, hexane extract of roasted seeds (100o C) contained74.54 % while the hexane extract of roasted seeds (120oC) contained 91.65 %.The traditional method of application of roasted seeds instead of raw seeds in treating tuberculosis enhances the availability of free fatty acids. The main fatty acids content at 120o C are Hexadecanoic acid and 9, 12-Octadecadienoic acid. Fatty acids had been reported to be toxic to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Thus the efficacy of the treating of tuberculosis with the roasted seeds of Chrysophyllum albidum is due to the presence of hexadecanoic acid and 9,12-Octadecadienoic acid which could work together or work synergistically with other antimicrobial effectors to bring about macrophage-mediated killing of the pathogen.

A new indole alkaloid and anti-malarial activity of the stem bark extract of Chrysophyllum albidum

“…In particular, the stem-bark explored in this study has been reported in literature as a remedy for malaria and yellow fever [16,9,11,12,15]. In our laboratory, earlier investigations of the antimicrobial constituents of Chrysophllum albidum seed cotyledons led to the isolation and characterization of three alkaloids viz: eleaginine, tetrahydro-2methylharman and skatole [7] and from the stem-bark, stigmasterol, epicatechin, epigallocatechin and procyanidin B5 [17].…”

“…In the last two decades, various researchers have subjected the plant, Chrysophyllum albidum to phytochemical, pharmacological and clinical studies and it has been reported to have several biological activities. [7,8,9,10,1,11,12,13,14,15].…”