Abstract
M.Tech. (Biotechnology)
For thousands of years humans and animals have relied on plants for their nutritional and medicinal needs. Medicinal plants play a very important role in modern civilization as indicated by the number of natural product-derived drugs used for both humans and animals. These medicinal herbs have been found to contain phytochemicals which are biologically active. Phytochemicals are beneficial to human health as they have been reported to have anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-cancer, anti-malarial properties amongst others. Thus, there is a need to further investigate these compounds for possible drug discovery or for the improvement of existing drugs. With an increasing demand in natural product-derived drugs, it has led to the development of various study fields including ethnopharmacology which is the study of medicinal plants used in traditional medicines. This includes the study of the chemical composition of crude extracts, compounds isolated and their biological activities. This scientific discipline has increased over the years because of the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Wherein drug resistance is a global issue that needs to be addressed and resolved by the development of new plant based anti -microbial agents. As previously stated the use of traditional medicinal plants is beneficial to human health, however, it is not always regulated; therefore, the safety of these plants also needs to be investigated. On that note, Gunnera perpensa is a Southern African medicinal plant which is prescribed by traditional healers for treatment of a number of infectious diseases, to treat wounds, urinary tract infections as well as a number of female reproductive and pregnancy related problems. However, there is insufficient research on the biological and phytochemical studies of this plant. Hence, the aim of the present study is to contribute to the existing knowledge of the phytochemical and biolological properties of Gunnera perpensa.
G. perpensa rhizomes were collected from the Faraday muthi market in Johannesburg and sequentially extracted with the solvents (methanol: chloroform (1:1, v/v)). The toxicity of the G. perpensa extract was investigated using cytotoxicity testing. This test was performed on the crude plant extract using a cell counting kit 8 (CCK8) in which a water-soluble tetrazolium salt was used. The cells that were used in this assay were lymphocytes isolated from porcine blood. This assay was performed using different concentrations of the crude extracts, the T-2 toxin as well as with T-2 toxin in combination with the crude extract. The...