Antimicrobial, Anti-inflammatory, and Chemical Evaluation of Buchholzia coriacea Seed (Wonderful Kola

Abstract

This study investigated the phytochemical content, proximate analysis, acute toxicity test, anti-microbial, and antiinflammatory effect of Buchholzia coriacea (wonderful kola) seed fractions using standard methods. Theantimicrobial activity of the n-hexane, methanol and aqueous extracts of B. coriaceaseeds against Escherichia coli, staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger was determined using the agar well diffusion method. The proximate composition shows that freshly dried B. coriacea seeds consist of 13% moisture, 88.19% total solid, 0.45% crude fat, 3.92% ash, 1.96% nitrogen, 12.8% protein, 69.8% carbohydrate and 3.5% crude fibre. The acute toxicity study showed that the seed is safe; as no death was recorded.In the assay for antiinflammatory activity, the results showed the aqueous extract to be the most active fractions. The preliminary antimicrobial evaluation, revealed that at the concentrations analysed (6.25-100 mg/mL), the inhibition zone diameters (IZDs) produced by the aqueous extracts against the test isolates ranged from 0-18 mm; the methanol extract recorded IZDsthat ranged from 0-15 mm; and the n-hexane extract recorded IZDs that ranged from 0-7mm. The antimicrobial results of the extracts of B. coriacea showed that the aqueous extract recorded the best antibacterial activity, while the methanol extract showed the best antifungal activity. It can be concluded that the aqueous extract recorded more pharmacological activities than the methanol and n-hexane extracts of B. coriaceaseeds and this confirms the common use of aqueous decoctions of this plant seeds in South-Eastern Nigeria traditional medicine practice. Analysis of the seed oil, revealed the significant presence of Estra-1, 3, 5 [10] -trien-17ßol (35.26%), Oleic acid (6.49%), 1-(+)-Ascorbic acid-2,6-dihexadecanoate (5.98%), Docosanoic acid (2.85%) with other palmitic acid derivatives.