Abstract

COMPARATIVE PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF MORINGA OLEIFERA (MORINGACEAE) EXTRACTS AND REPRODUCTIVE EFFECTS OF THE AQUEOUS LEAF, SEED AND BARK EXTRACTS IN RATS

Jonah Sydney Aprioku* and Prince Onyewumbu Onyenaturuchi

Abstract

Moringa oleifera (moringa) is widely consumed for its several nutritional and medicinal benefits. This study analysed phytochemical constituents (alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, anthraquinones, cardiac glycosides, carbohydrates, and saponins) of crude aqueous and ethanol extracts of leaf, seed, flower, bark and root of the plant collected from the southern part of Nigeria. The study also evaluated the effect of 21 days administration of different concentrations of the aqueous seed or bark extract (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg bwt) on sperm parameters using Wistar albino rats. The study additionally investigated the outcome of pregnancy when the aqueous leaf extract (200 mg/kg bwt) was administered from GD1 or GD7 till delivery in Wistar rats. All phytochemical compounds tested positive only in the flower (aqueous and ethanol), leaf (ethanol) and bark (ethanol) extracts. Overall, the ranking of phytoconstituents in the plant parts was: flower>seed>leaf>root>bark. There was reduction (p

Keywords: Abortifacient, moringa, phytochemical, pregnancy, sperm parameters