Phytochemical, Antioxidant And Antimicrobial Studies Of Mucuna Pruriens

Abstract

This study evaluated the phytochemical, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Mucuna pruriens seeds. Extractions were carried out with ethanol, methanol, and petroleum ether, water Acetone. The preliminary phytochemical study of the extracts of seed of Mucuna pruriens revealed the presence of alkaloids, Hydrogen cyanide, saponin, flavonoids, phenols, and tannins. The highest level of phytochemical screening was observed in the hydrogen cyanide which was signified with +++ (highly present) while the antioxidant screening revealed the high presence of nitric oxide radical scavenging and protein signified with +++ (Highly present). The extracts were tested against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli using agar well diffusion method. The petroleum ether, methanol, ethanol, water and acetone extracts of Mucuna pruriens seed possess various degrees of significant inhibitory effect against the tested organism. The highest antibacterial effect was observed in the ethanol extract against Staphylococcus aureus, (13mm inhibition zone) while the lowest inhibition zone of antibacterial effect was observed in the water extract against Staphylococcus aureus (7mm inhibition zone). Also the highest antifungal effect was observed in methanol extract against Aspergillus niger (13mm inhibition zone), Ethanol against Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Mucor (12mm inhibition zone) while the lowest antifungal effect was observed in the water extract against Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus (1mm inhibition zone). Broth dilution method was used to estimate Minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) against the selected pathogens. The results shows that the methanol extract of Mucuna pruriens seed has antifungal effect while the ethanol extract has antibacterial effect and may be used in treatment of some diseases. The results of the study suggest that adequate fermentation process should be carried out in the preparation of Mucuna pruriens seeds because of the high level of hydrogen cyanide. 

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title                                                                                  ﾿        Pages  

Title page ﾿ i

Dedication ﾿ ii

Certification ﾿ iii

Acknowledgements ﾿ iv

Table of contents ﾿ v

List of table’s ﾿ vii

List of Figures ﾿ viii

Abstract ﾿ ix

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 ﾿         ﾿ Introduction ﾿ 1

1.1 ﾿ Aim and Objective of the Study ﾿ 4

CHAPTER TWO

2.1      ﾿ ﾿ Literature Review ﾿ 5

2.2 ﾿ Origins and Early Uses ﾿ 6

2.3 ﾿ ﾿ Taxonomy and Characteristics of Mucuna pruriens ﾿ 13

2.3.1 ﾿ ﾿ Classification ﾿ 13

2.3.2 ﾿ ﾿ Species Description ﾿ 15

2.4 ﾿ ﾿ Current Uses of Mucuna pruriens ﾿ 16

2.4.1 ﾿ ﾿ Antimicrobial Activity ﾿ 16

2.4.2 ﾿ ﾿ Nutraceutical Versatility ﾿ 16 

2.4.3 ﾿ ﾿ Antioxidant property ﾿ 18

2.4.4 ﾿ ﾿ Antivenin property ﾿ 18

2.4.5 ﾿   ﾿ Fertility-enhancing property ﾿ 19

2.4.6 ﾿ Growth-promoting property ﾿ 20

2.3.7 ﾿ Hypoglycemic property ﾿ 20

2.4.8 ﾿ Anthelmintic property ﾿ 20

2.4.9 ﾿ Mucuna pruriens as a Food and Feed Source ﾿ 21

2.5 ﾿ Nutritional Value ﾿ 23

2.5.1 ﾿ Protein Concentration ﾿ 23

2.5.2 ﾿ Other Nutrients ﾿ 25

2.8 ﾿ Comparison to Other Legumes  ﾿ 25

2.9 ﾿ Antinutritional and Toxic Properties ﾿ 27

2.9.1 ﾿ Tannins  ﾿ 28

2.9.2 ﾿ Proanthocyanidins ﾿ 29

2.9.3 ﾿ Hydrolyzable tannins ﾿ 30

2.9.4                L-Dopa                                                                                                31

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 ﾿ Materials and Methods                                                                       33

3.1 ﾿ Materials ﾿ 33

3.1.2    ﾿ Sample collection                                                                               33

3.2                   Methods                                                                                              33

3.2.1                Sample Preparation ﾿ 33

3.2.2 ﾿ ﾿ Solvent extraction of the sample ﾿ 33

3.3 ﾿ ﾿ Phytochemical Analysis of Mucuna Pruriens Powder ﾿ 34

3.3.1 ﾿ Determination of Hydrogen cyanide ﾿ 34

3.3.2 ﾿ Determination of Phenol ﾿ 34

3.3.3 ﾿ Determination of Tannin ﾿ 34

3.3.4 ﾿ Determination of Alkaloid ﾿ 35

3.3.5 ﾿ Determination of Saponin ﾿ 36

3.3.6 ﾿ Determination of Flavonoid ﾿ 37

3.4 ﾿ Detertmination of Antioxidant Properties of Mucuna pruriens ﾿ 37

3.4.1 ﾿ Protein Determination ﾿ 37

3.4.2 ﾿ Nitric oxide radical scavenging activity ﾿ 38

3.4.3 ﾿ Iron chelating activity ﾿ 39

3.5 ﾿ Antimicrobial Determination of Mucuna pruriens ﾿ 39

3.5.1                Antibacterial activity of Mucuna pruriens                                         39

3.5.2 ﾿ Antifungal activity of Mucuna pruriens ﾿ 40

3.5.3 ﾿ Minimum inhibitory concentration ﾿ 40

3.6                   Statistical analysis                                                                               40 ﾿                          

CHAPTER FOUR

4.1 ﾿ Results ﾿ 41 

CHAPTER FIVE ﾿

5.1 ﾿ Discussion ﾿ 48

5.2 ﾿ Conclusion ﾿ 50

5.3 ﾿ ﾿ Recommendation ﾿ 50

5.4 ﾿ ﾿ Suggestion for future study. ﾿ 51

References ﾿   ﾿

Appendix