ISOLATION, CHARACTERISATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF BIOACTIVE CONSTITUENTS FROM THE LEAF EXTRACT OF ADENODOLICHOS PANICULATUS (HUA) HUTCH. & DALZ (FABACEAE)

ISOLATION, CHARACTERISATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF BIOACTIVE CONSTITUENTS FROM THE LEAF EXTRACT OF Adenodolichos paniculatus (Hua) Hutch. & Dalz (FABACEAE)

CHAPTER ONE

1.0   INTRODUCTION

There are a large number of medicinal plants whose scientific importance has not been explored. All over the world, plants have served as the richest source of raw materials for traditional as well as modern medicine, particularly in Africa and Asia (Tsakala et al., 2006). Medicinal plants contain some compounds which have definite physiological actions on animals and humans. These are called secondary metabolite, and include tannins, alkaloids, carbohydrates, terpenoids, steroids and flavonoids (Doge et al., 2005).

Medicinal plants are useful for healing as well as for curing of human diseases because of the presence of phytochemical constituents (Ododo et al., 2016). Phytochemicals are naturally occurring in medicinal plants leaves, stem bark, fruits and roots where they serve as defense mechanism and protect from various diseases (Ahmad et al., 2006). Traditional medicine by means of plant extracts continues to provide health treatment for over 80% of the world‘s population, especially in the developing world (WHO, 2002).

The rapid increase of bacterial drug resistance is becoming a worldwide problem. There is an urgent need to develop new antimicrobial drugs with better/improved activity in order to overcome bacterial drug resistance (Afolayan et al., 2008). The continual search for, and the interest in natural plant products, for use as medicines has acted as the catalyst for exploring methodologies involved in obtaining the required plant materials and hence searching into their constituents for possible medicinal usage (Ibrahim et al., 2013). The identification and isolation of such active compounds makes it a more effective therapeutic application. It prevents consumers from taking certain plants that have no medicinal value or are poisonous to them (Ozolua et al., 2009).

ISOLATION, CHARACTERISATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF BIOACTIVE CONSTITUENTS FROM THE LEAF EXTRACT OF Adenodolichos paniculatus (Hua) Hutch. & Dalz (FABACEAE)