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Research Journal of Medicinal Plants

Year: 2007 | Volume: 1 | Issue: 3 | Page No.: 92-99
DOI: 10.17311/rjmp.2007.92.99
In vitro Biological Activities of Carica papaya
Olawale H. Oladimeji, Rene Nia, Kalu Ndukwe and Emmanuel Attih

Abstract: The present study was designed with the aim of confirming or otherwise the ethno-medicinal claims of C. papaya in the treatment and or management of ailments such as ringworm, digestive disorders, fevers and tumors. Hence, the anti-microbial, larvicidal and brine-shrimp lethality studies on leaves, stem and roots extracts were carried out. The extracts and fractions of roots elicited good anti-microbial activity against B. subtilis, S. aureus but gave minimal activity against E. coli, S. typhi and K. pneumoniae and none against fungal isolates (A. niger and C. albicans). Both the leaves and stem, however afforded lesser activities. The larvicidal activity determined in terms of percentage mortality showed that the roots gave moderate larvicidal activity (LA%) of 40 and 55% (at 5%w/v) while the activity was potent at 70 and 80% (at 10% w/v) both at 12 and 24 h incubation respectively. However, the activity displayed by both the leaves and stem was insignificant. Interestingly, the brine-shrimp lethality assay; analyzed using the Finney probit method, showed the leaves displayed a significant LD50 value at 2.7 ppm, while the stem and roots gave moderate LD50 values at 384 and 272 ppm respectively compared with literature values below the 200 ppm which are generally considered significant. These findings indicate a potential of the plant to serve as panacea for infectious diseases and also lend scientific justification to some of the folkloric uses.

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How to cite this article
Olawale H. Oladimeji, Rene Nia, Kalu Ndukwe and Emmanuel Attih, 2007. In vitro Biological Activities of Carica papaya. Research Journal of Medicinal Plants, 1: 92-99.

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