ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants have been found to play a significant role in the treatment of human ailments due to the resistance nature of synthetic drugs aside been very expensive. One of the leading medicinal plant found to have therapeutic power is Amaranthus spinosus Linn. This present study is aimed at investigating the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of ethanolic root  extract of Amaranthus spinosus Linn. The antioxidant activity of root extract of Amaranthus spinosus was accessed by in- vitro experimental parameters such as DPPH (2,2-Diphenly -1-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging activity and Nitric oxide radical assay and Anti-lipid peroxidation. In this study, DPPH was found to be concentration-dependent. The result showed that Amaranthus spinosus ethanolic root extract have showed potent in vitro antioxidant activity that may be attributed to the phenolic compounds present. The ethanolic root extract of Amaranthus spinosus was evaluated for antimicrobial activity against 6 bacteria’s such as (Proteus mirabillis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Proteus aureginosa, Lactococcus bacillus, Klebsiella pnueumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus) the in -vitro antimicrobial activity was performed by Agar Disc Diffusion method with Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA). The extract of 1000mg showed the highest inhibitory zone (33.00mm±1.00mm) on Staphylococcus aureus, while the extract of 62.5mg showed the least inhibitory zone (1.66mm±5.77mm) on Proteus mirabillis. All the organisms were susceptible to the plant extracts used for the antimicrobial test. This study strongly recommends the use of Amaranthus spinosus ethanolic root extracts as an Antimicrobial agent and can be used to cure many ailments caused by these microorganisms.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Title Page i

Certification ii

Declaration iii

Dedication iv

Acknowledgment v

Table of content vii

List of table’s viii

List of Graphs ix

List of Plates x

Abstract xi

CHAPTER ONE 

1.1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Review of Antioxidant Activity 5

1.2.1 Pathophysiology Of Oxidative Stress 5

1.2.2 Antioxidants and Its Role In Biological System 5

1.2.3 DPPH as an antioxidant assay 6

1.2.4 Nitric oxide as an antioxidant assay 7

1.2.5 Lipid Peroxidation as an antioxidant assay 7

1.3    Justification 8

1.4  Aims and Objectives 8

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 Literature review 9

2.1 Antimicrobial activity of plant extract 9

2.2 Botanical Description of Amaranthus spinosus 12

2.2.1 Taxanomy of Amaranthus  spinosus 13

2.3   Description of Amaranthus spinousus 13

2.3.1 Soil Requirement of Amaranthus spinosus 14

2.3.2 Propagation 14

2.3.3 The Etymology of Amaranthus spinosus 15

2.4 Uses of Amaranthus spinosus 15

2.5 Chemical Composition of Amaranthus spinosus 16

2.6 Pharmacological Properties of Amaranthus spinosus 16

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 Materials and method 19

3.1 Background 19

3.2 Collection and identification of plant sample 19

3.3 Extraction carried out on the plant 19

3.4 Preparation of inocula 20

3.5 Antimicrobial activity test 20

3.6 Minimum inhibitory concentration (mic) 20

3.7 Preparation of antibiotics stock solution 21

3.8 Antioxidant activity 22

3.9 Statistical analysis 24

CHAPTER FOUR

4.1Result 25

4.2 Antioxidant activity result 28

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 Discussion and Conclusion 34

5.1 Discussion 34

5.2 Conclusion 35

REFERENCES