Phytochemical Antimicrobial Screening of Costus Afer Extract and Its Alleviation of Carbon Tetrachloride Induced Toxicity

Abstract

Plants of medicinal values contain bioactive compounds capable of preventing and combating several oxidative related diseases. Many diseases have been wrongly attended to using several medicinal plants of choice by mere instinct or sunrise. The phytochemical screening, (antimicrobial activity of Costus afer extract and its alleviation of carbon tetrachloride induced toxicity were evaluated. The phytochemical screening of both qualitative and quantitative analyses showed the presence of Tannins, Steroids, Phenols, Phytate, Hydrogen cyanide (HCN). Saponin, Alkaloids and Flavonoids in the aqueous, methanol and n-hexane stem extract. The antimicrobial activity of Costus afer extract using two different solvents showed its bactericical effect and no antibiotic effect on fungi microorganisms at different concentration. The study based on the toxicity of the substance, carbon tetrachloride showed the serum elevation of alanine aminotransferase (ALT, EC 2.6.1.2.), aspirate aminotransferase (AST, EC 2.6.1.1) and alkaline phosphase (ALT, EC 3.1.3.1) in the liver of the rabbits in response to the oral administration of the chemical. The rabbits fed with the Costus afer extract of methanol and N-hexane showed a moderate effect while the rabbits fed with the chemical carbon tetrachloride had a very high elevation on the enzymes. The rabbits, however fed with both the Costus afer and the chemical compound, carbon tetrachloride showed a considerable alleviation on the level of toxicity of the chemical. The rabbits fed with the Costus afer extract and the chemical carbon tetrachloride mixture statistically showed significant (p<0.05) difference between the treatment and their liver enzymes. This indicated that biological active compounds of Costus afer are more polar and could serve as a source of bioactive compounds for nutrition and therapeutic purposes.