Côte d’Ivoire

To find out the medicinal contribution to the local population of the plants colonizing the mountains of the town of Man, we traveled 5 mountains and interviewed 129 people from the said town. The chosen mountains are called: Kôh mountain, Mount Zélé, Glaha mountain, Glèhè mountain and Gôhô mountain. These mountains were chosen for their significant plant diversity. Plots made at an altitude of 300 to 400 meters were used to inventory the plants. Two indices were used to evaluate the ethnobotanical data, namely the frequency of citation of species (FC) and the relative exploitation level of these plants (NER). The study made it possible to inventory 48 plant species divided into 44 genera and 26 families. The Fabaceae family is the most represented. Ethnomedic investigations revealed the use of these plants in the treatment of 25 common pathologies. The leaves are the organs most used in these treatments. And the technique for preparing drugs is decoction. The ethnobotanical indices evaluated indicated that the species best exploited by the population are Alchornea cordifolia and Euphorbia hirta with a NER = 55% each. These indices also reveal that Chromolaena odorata (FR = 19.58%) and Tithonia diversifolia (FR = 13.23%) are the most common species found at low altitude in the Man Mountains. The results of this work could stimulate further in-depth studies on mountain plants in the search for effective phytomedicines.

This study was carried out on dry tubers of Cyperus esculentus (Cyperaceae), collected in three northern localities of Côte d'Ivoire, with the aim of determining the mineral, phenolic and nutritional compositions of whole tubers and its defatted flour. The mineral composition was determined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the quantitative determination of the phytoconstituents was carried out by spectrophotometry. The nutritional and antinutritional parameters were determined by spectrophotometric and titration methods. As a result of the study, it was found that Cyperus esculentus tubers contain many macro- and trace elements with high levels of potassium (626.64-999.74 mg/100 g), phosphorus (494.35-544.60 mg/100g) and magnesium (124.25-146, 07mg/100g). The contents of whole tubers and those defatted in fat, protein, total carbohydrates and energy values were significant. As for the contents of total phenols and flavonoids, hydrolysable and condensed tannins, they vary respectively between 4215.52 and 5106.32 / 3740.52 and 4570.00 µg EAG/g DM; 10.80 and 14.68 / 6.00 and 8.10 µg EAG/g DM; 0.165 and 4.555 / 0.23 and 0.35 µg EAG/g DM; 725.33 and 1486.25 / 242.50 and 1110.98 µg EC/g DM. The analysis of the antinutritional (fibres, oxalates et phytates) parameters was carried out only on the defatted flour, whose contents are respectively 9.32 – 9.81%; 0.0495 – 0.055mg /100g; 12.24 – 33.23 mg/100g. With regard to the nutritional and energy values determined, the tubers of Cyperus esculentus have significant nutritional potential. In addition, its defatted flour contains natural proteins and sugars, which makes it suitable for animal feed.

This work is devoted to phytochemical study of tannic extracts from the leaves of Combretum paniculatum (CP), Mallotus oppositifolius (MO) and Ximenia americana (XA), three medicinal plants of Ivorian flora, used in traditional medicine against certain types of cancer. Qualitative analysis by phytochemical screening of these extracts, performed by means of TLC, revealed in addition to hydrolysable and condensed tannins, the presence of phenolic acids and flavonoids. Total tannin contents determined by permanganometry and spectrophotometry are respectively 41.03 ± 0.77% and 12.3648 ± 0.0004% for MO; 20.03 ± 0.44% and 11.7974 ± 0.0001% for XA; 18.76 ± 0.89% and 11.6026 ± 0.0008% for CP. Condensed tannin content in XA leaves (234.135 ± 0.003 µg ECT/mg) is considerably higher than in CP (37.731 ± 0.001 µg ECT/mg) and MO (19.082 ± 0.001 µg ECT/mg). All XA extracts (aqueous and ethyl acetate) have shown good antioxidant activity with CR50s which are lower than that of vitamin C (reference antioxidant). A correlative relationship was found between tannin content and antioxidant activity.