Chemical constituents from Gouania longipetala and Glyphaea brevis.

Five compounds were isolated altogether from the two medicinal plants. Glycerol monotricosanoate (1), palmarumycin BG1 (2) and de-O-methyllasiodiplodin (3) were isolated from Gouania longipetala. In addition, epicatechin (4) and its dimer procyanidin B2 (5) were isolated from the stem bark of Glyphaea brevis. Their structures were elucidated by using spectroscopic experiments. They exhibited radical scavenging and moderate antibacterial effects.

Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of the leaves of Wissadula amplissima var Rostrata.

The present study determined the anti-inflammatory activity of Wissadula amplissima var rostrata (Schum. & Thonn.), and calculated the total phenolic content and total antioxidant capacity of the plant in an attempt to justify the traditional uses of the plant in the Ashanti region of Ghana for the management of spider,wasps and bee stings. Powdered dried leaves of Wissadula amplissima were Soxhlet extracted with Petroleum Ether (PWA, yield: 1.46% (w)/(w)); Chloroform (CWA, yield: 1.18% (w)/(w)) and Methanol (MWA, yield: 3.39% (w)/(w)). These fractions were tested for anti-inflammatory activity using carrageenan-induced foot edema in 7 day old chicks. The effect before the induction of inflammation (pre-emptive protocol) paradigm was used for the assessment. Oral administration of PWA, CWA and MWA (30 - 300 mg/kg) dose dependently reduced edema with maximal effects of 68.25±2.03%, 77.83±0.81% and 62.21±2.61% respectively. Similarly the NSAID, Diclofenac (10 - 100 mg/Kg, i.p) and the steroidal anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone (0.3 - 3 mg/Kg, i.p) used as positive controls, dose-dependently inhibited the edema with maximal effect of 87.96±1.11% and 67.47±3.51% respectively. The potencies exhibited by all three extracts were comparable to that shown by Diclofenac but higher than that of Dexamethasone. Phenols were detected in all three extracts with the highest concentration in the MWA. The extracts also scavenged DPPH with EC(50) values of 0.9784, 0.9096 and 0.2767 for PWA, CWA, MWA respectively. The results of this study give scientific credence to the local use of Wissadula amplissima to modulate inflammation induced by stings of animals.

Antimicrobial activity of essential oils of Xylopia aethiopica.

Xylopia aethiopica is a medicinal plant of great repute in West Africa which produces a variety of complex chemical compounds. The fresh and dried fruits, leaf, stem bark and root bark essential oils showed various degrees of activity against the gram positive bacteria, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus, the gram negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the yeast-like fungus Candida albicans, using the cup plate method. However, none of the oils showed activity against Escherichia coli.

In vitro evaluation of effects of two Ghanaian plants relevant to wound healing.

Commelina diffusa and Spathodea campanulata are used as wound-healing agents in Ashanti traditional medicine in Ghana. The methanol extracts of Commelina diffusa herb and Spathodea campanulata bark showed some level of antimicrobial activity with C. diffusa exhibiting selective antifungal activity against Trichophyton species. The extracts reduced the peroxidation of bovine brain extract with an IC(50) value of 1.39 mg/mL and 0.24 mg/mL, respectively. In addition the extracts also exhibited significant antioxidant activity by protecting MRC-5 cells from hydrogen peroxide induced oxidant injury at concentrations between 1 microg/mL and 10 microg/mL. The extracts showed no inhibition of NF-kappaB at 100 microg/mL. The antioxidant activities and antimicrobial activities suggest that the use of the plants in wound healing may be based on antioxidant and antiseptic effects of its constituents.

Evaluation of the antioxidant and free radical scavenging properties of Secamone afzelii Rhoem.

The antioxidant activity of a methanol extract of Secamone afzelii stems was tested using the DPPH assay and the active compound was identified as alpha-tocopherol. HPLC determination showed that 0.12% w/w alpha-tocopherol was present in the plant. The total extract also showed effective free radical scavenging activity in the assay for non-enzymatic lipid peroxidation in liposomes with an IC50 value of 90 microg/mL, with alpha-tocopherol isolated from the plant having an IC50 of 15 microg/mL in the same system, thus demonstrating the presence of other antioxidants.

Ethno-Botanical Survey Of Medicinal Plants In The Plant Genetic Resources Centre Arboretum - Bunso

The ethnobotanical uses and mode of administration of twenty-nine medicinal plants; found in the arboretum of the Plant Genetic Resource Centre located at Bunso in the eastern region of Ghana; against some disease conditions are hereby documented

Antimicrobial activity of the leaves and flowering tops of Acanthospermum hispidum.

The ethanolic extracts of the leaves and flowering tops of Acanthospermum hispidum showed varying degrees of activity against a wide range of pathogenic bacteria. The activity resided mostly in the polar fractions of the alcoholic extract, being only slight in the non-polar fractions. No activity was observed for the aqueous extract of the fresh plant material.

Antimicrobial activity of the leaves and seeds of Bixa orellana.

The ethanolic extracts of the leaves and seeds of Bixa orellana showed a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity. The activity of the leaf extract was more pronounced.

A role for histone deacetylase activity in HDAC1-mediated transcriptional repression.

Treatment of mammalian cells with small molecule histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors induces changes in the transcription of specific genes. These changes correlate directly with an increase in the acetylation levels of all four core histones in vivo. Antibodies directed against endogenous HDAC1, HDAC2, or HDAC3 immunoprecipitate histone deacetylase activity that is inhibited in vitro by the small molecule trapoxin (TPX), and all three HDACs are retained by a TPX-affinity matrix. HDAC1 and HDAC2 are associated in HeLa cells in a complex that is predominantly separate from an HDAC3 immune complex. Both Jurkat HDAC1 and HeLa HDAC1/2 immune complexes deacetylate all four core histones and recombinant HDAC1 deacetylates free and nucleosomal histones in vitro. Purified recombinant HDAC1 deacetylates core histones in the absence of protein cofactors. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to identify residues required for the enzymatic and structural integrity of HDAC1. Mutation of any one of four conserved residues causes deleterious effects on deacetylase activity and a reduced ability to bind a TPX-affinity matrix. A subset of these mutations also cause a decreased interaction with the HDAC1-associated proteins RbAp48 and mSin3A. Disruption of histone deacetylase activity either by TPX or by direct mutation of a histidine presumed to be in the active site abrogates HDAC1-mediated transcriptional repression of a targeted reporter gene in vivo.

Histone deacetylase activity is required for full transcriptional repression by mSin3A.

Members of the Mad family of bHLH-Zip proteins heterodimerize with Max to repress transcription in a sequence-specific manner. Transcriptional repression by Mad:Max heterodimers is mediated by ternary complex formation with either of the corepressors mSin3A or mSin3B. We report here that mSin3A is an in vivo component of large, heterogeneous multiprotein complexes and is tightly and specifically associated with at least seven polypeptides. Two of the mSin3A-associated proteins, p50 and p55, are highly related to the histone deacetylase HDAC1. The mSin3A immunocomplexes possess histone deacetylase activity that is sensitive to the specific deacetylase inhibitor trapoxin. mSin3A-targeted repression of a reporter gene is reduced by trapoxin treatment, suggesting that histone deacetylation mediates transcriptional repression through Mad-Max-mSin3A multimeric complexes.