Comparative GC-MS Analysis, Antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of Garcinia kola Heckel seed and stem-bark n-hexane extract

Garcinia kola is one of the well-known tropical medicinal plants known in the traditional management of several diseases especially connected with inflammatory and degenerative diseases. This study was designed to compare the phytochemical contents and cytotoxic activities of crude G. kola n-hexane seed and stem-bark extracts by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS).

Experimental: 

Fresh seeds and stem-bark of G. kola were collected, authenticated and extracted by macerating in n-hexane separately. The compounds in the crude extracts were evaluated using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrophotometer (GC-MS). The cytotoxic activity was determined using the brine shrimp lethality assay.

Extraction of the plant materials yielded the crude n-hexane extracts GKSE and GKBE from the G. kola seed and stem-bark, respectively. GC-MS analysis detected 54 and 34 compounds in GKSE and GKBE, respectively. The most abundant compounds in both extracts were Lanosta-8,24-dien-3-one and Oxacycloheptadec-8-en-2-one with percentage abundance of 20.72% and 22.71%, respectively. The stem-back extract (LC50=42.76±1.85 μg/mL) showed better cytotoxic activity than the seed extract (LC50=73.15±1.51 μg/mL). GC-MS results for both extracts indicated compounds known for their antioxidant and anticancer properties which may explain some of the various ethno-medical uses of G. kola seed and stem-bark.

Recommended applications/industries:

 This plant could be a source of a new anticancer drug.