Authors: Lahai Koroma, L. M. Kamara, Ronnie Frazer-Williams, Augustine Kpaka Jonathan Kpaka.
Pharmacognostic potentials and mineral analysis was carried out on the of dried powdered seeds of traditional medicinal plant Usteria guineensis used for the treatment of Typhoid fever in Sierra Leone. The results indicate the colour of the dried powdered seeds of the plant to be light yellow with fruit odour and had a bitter taste indicating that the powdered plant material contains alkaloids. The following reagents 1M NaOH (aq), 1M NaOH (alc.), Ammonia, 50% HCl, and 50% HNO3 exhibited fluorescent activities when added to portions of the dried powdered seeds of U. guineensis and viewed under UV Lamp. The plant organ investigated contained high contents of carbohydrates, alkaloids, flavonoids, proteins sterols/terpenes and tannins, saponins in the Ethanolic, methanol and aqueous extract during phytochemical screening. The detection of the above secondary plant metabolites supports the use of the plant in traditional medicine. Elemental analysis of the dried powdered seeds of U. guineensis using Niton XL3t GOLDD + Hand held X-ray Fluorescence (Thermo Fisher). The spectrum acquisition time was 480sec for the sample and the dead time was around 50% a total of fifteen elements (K, Ca, Mg, Al, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Zr, Mo, and Sc) were determined in the dried powdered seeds of Usteria guineensis plant by using EDXRF.
The results indicate that the plant organ investigated contained K (29458 ± 163 ppm), Ca (3702 ± 54.00 ppm), Mg (5528 ± 1223 ppm), Al (1389 ± 168 ppm) and Fe (167.11 ± 9.20 ppm). The other elements present in smaller quantities were Ti (64 ± 12.00 ppm), Sr (4.74 ± 0.40 ppm), Zn (56.65 ±2.46 ppm), Rb (47.34 ± 1.00 ppm), Zr (20.73 ± 0.67 ppm), and Mo (6.94 ± 0.74 ppm). The elements Sc, Mn, Cu and V were out of limit of detection of the equipment. The above elements detected are essential components of biological structures that mediate vital effect on and play a key role in a variety of the biochemical processes necessary for life.
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