Abstract

Garcinia kola has been hitherto speculated as effective in the management of sickle cell disease (SCD). Investigations into the antisickling activities of both crude methanol extracts and the aqueous fractions of the leaf, seed and seed pod of G. kola were carried out using p-hydroxybenzoic acid and normal saline as positive and negative controls respectively. At the tested concentrations of 10.0, 1.0 and 0.1 mg/ml, the leaf extracts exhibited greatest antisickling activity whilst the seed pod had the least antisickling activity. However, it was observed that the activity of methanol extract of the seed pod did not differ significantly (p>0.05) from that of the positive control, p-hydroxybenzoic acid. Results for screened phytochemicals of the investigated parts revealed the presence of saponins, tannins, combined and free anthraquinones. The results infer a preliminary confirmation for the effectiveness and use of Garcinia kola in the management of SCD and its implication in drug development.

Key words: Antisickling activity, Garcinia kola, phytochemicals, sickle cell disease.