Garcinia kola
Heckel (Guttiferae) seed, has found use in folkloric medicine in Southern Nigeria for the treatment of toothache and prevention of dental caries.
We have evaluated the crude ethanolic extract, chromatographic fractions and isolated constituents of this Nigerian edible seed against clinical strains of dental-caries-causing and related microorganisms.
Antimicrobial evaluation was done by testing different concentrations of the crude extract, vacuum liquid chromatographic (VLC) fractions and pure isolates against
Streptococcus mutans
,
Streptococcus viridans and
Staphylococcus aureus
in already set blood agar with gentamicin as the reference standard. The zones of inhibition and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were determined as appropriate. Fraction N, eluted with (hexane: ethyl acetate 70: 30), exhibited the highest activity with MIC’s of 1.50 mgml⁻¹ and 0.33 mgml⁻¹ while the pure isolates 1 (cycloartenol) and 2 (24-methylenecycloartanol) gave MIC’s of 0.17 mgml⁻¹ and 0.38 mgml⁻¹ against
Streptococcus mutans and
Streptococcus viridans respectively. Isolate 3 (garcinianin) gave MIC of 1.0 mgml⁻¹ against
Streptococcus mutans but no significant activity against
Streptococcus viridans and
Staphylococcus aureus.
The results provide some justifications for the folkloric use of
Garcinia kola Heckel (Guttiferae) for dental caries-related health problems while the isolated compounds may also serve as templates for future drug development.
