1.0 Introduction
Medicinal plants have been identified and used throughout human history. Plants have the ability to synthesize a wide variety of chemical compounds that are used to perform important biological functions and to defend against attacks from predators such as insects, fungi and herbivorous mammals. Chemical compounds in plants meditate their effects on the human body through processes identical to those already well understood for chemical compounds conventional drugs thus do not differ greatly from conventional drugs terms or how they work.
All plants produce chemical compounds as part of their normal metabolic activities.
These phytochemicals are divided into (1) primary metabolites such as sugars and fats, which are found in all plants; and (2) secondary metabolites compounds which are found in a smaller range of plants, serving a more specific function. For example, some secondary metabolites are toxins used to deter predation and others are pheromones used to attract insects for pollination.
It is these secondary metabolites and pigments that can have therapeutic actions in humans and which can be refined to produce drugs examples are inulin from the roots of dahlias, quinine from the cinchona, morphine and codeine from the poppy, and digoxin from the foxglove. Toxic plants even have use in pharmaceutical development. Plants synthesize a bewildering variety of phytochemicals, but most are derivatives of a few biochemical motifs: polyphenols, Glycosides and Terpenes.
Plants As Drugs and Their Effects
Aspilia africana (compositae) is a semi-woody herb from a perennial woody root stock up to 2m high, very polymorphic and occurring throughout the region on wasteland of the Savannah forested zones and widely distributed across tropical African (Dalziel, 1937). The plant is a weed grazed by cattle and sheep and in such used in the western state as food for rabbits and hares.
It has a high crude protein content (urkill, 1985). The plant is used in herbal medicine to treat various infections of bacterial origin such as gonorrhea, stomach trouble and corneal opacity. The plant is widely used as haemostatic agent (Dalziel, 1937).
The fresh leaves are used on cuts, wounds and sores. A decoction has been recommended for use in treating pulmonary haemorrhages and haemostasis is thought to be due to vasoconstrienon (Irvine, 1961). In Tangayike, a root decoction is taken for tuberculosis and in Ghana; the leaves are made into cough medicine for children. In Uganda, a leaf decoction is taken for treatment of gonorrhea (1992).
There is little report on the chemical constituents of the plant. 1992) reported the presence of fatty acid in the oil of seeds of Aspilia africana and the presence of diterpenes,kaurenoic and grandiflorenic acids from the leave.
Aspilia africana mossambicensis has been reported to possess antimalaria activity against plasmodium falciparium, galactogogue activity and used to alleviate menstrual cramps (ofulla-Avo 1996; 1992). There are no previous in-vtiro antimicrobial activities of Aspilia species in literature to the best of our knowledge. Hence in this paper, we report for the first time, the in-vitro antimicrobial activity of the whole plant of A Africana.
There is a diagram here in the complete work Fig 1: Picture of Aspilia africana
1.1 Statement of the Problem
Man's quest for complementary/alternative medication has resulted to the use of medicinal plants. These medicinal plants though at most times cheap are known to cause some toxic effects on some vital organs like kidneys. There is need for research of this nature to determine the level of safety of Aspilia africana onthe kidney.
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