ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL OF GARCINIA KOLA (LEAF)

Garcinia kola leaves have long been regarded as pharmacologically potent plant in folk medicine for their medicinal properties in tropical Africa. . In the present study, the ability of ethanolic extract of Garcinia kola leaves at concentrations (3.3-40?g/ml) to prevent 60?Μ Fe2+ induced lipid peroxidation in rat brain and liver homogenate was assessed using Thiobarbituric acid reactive substance assay (TBARS) invitro . Fe2+ chelating ability of the extract was a;so determined. (1mM FeSO4). The inhibitory effect of Garcinia kola leaves on lipid peroxidation in both liver and brain homogenate and the iron chelating activity were concentration - dependent exhibiting an antioxidant activity against free radicals. The extract showed its highest inhibition at the same concentration (26.7?g/ml) in both liver and brain homogenate with %inhibition of 64.1% and 38.2% respectively. Therefore, the leaves of the plant could be considered to have significant natural antioxidant activity against the initiation of some prevalent diseases.