天美传媒

Abstract

Cancer is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Malawi and some people use herbal and traditional medicines for its management. The study aimed at assessing the optimum harvesting season of selected medicinal plant species claimed effective in the management of cancer in Karonga district of Malawi. Crosssectional study was used to identify medicinal plants commonly used for the management of cancer in the district. Spectrophotometric methods were used to determine total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoids content (TFC), total alkaloids content (TAC) and antioxidant activity (AA). High Perfomance Liquid Chromatography Diode Array Detecter (HPLC DAD) was used to fingerprint phenolic compounds in the extracts of selected medicinal plant species at different seasons of the year. Senna singueana, Melia azedarach, Moringa oleifera and Lannea discolour were commonly used medicinal plant species. Levels of phytochemicals and AA in the barks of L. discolor and leaves of S. singueana, M. azedarach, and M. oleifera were significantly influenced by seasonal variation. Barks of L. discolour exhibited high levels of (+)-catechin, rutin, TPC, TFC, TAC and AA during hot-dry season (summer) in the month of October. Leaves of S. singueana showed high levels of sinapic acid, ferulic acid and 2,4 dihydroxybenzoic acid which were predominant phenolic compounds during hot-wet season in the month of January. Senna singueana, M. oleifera and M. azedarach leaves exhibited significant high levels of TPC, TFC, TAC and AA in hot-wet season (rainy). It is concluded that hot-dry season is optimum for harvesting barks of L. discolour while hot-wet season is optimum for harvesting leaves of S. singueana, M. oleifera and M. azedarach for pharmacological use. Further studies of biological activities including tests on cancer cell lines for anticancer activity of the extracts, isolation and characterisation of bioactive compounds responsible for activity are recommended.

Biography

Boniface Mwamutope is currently working in the Department of Toxicology at Kamuzu College of Health Sciences (KUHES), Malawi. His research interest manly focusses on Medicinal plants.