This study was undertaken to characterise the biological activities of
Garcinia atroviridis, a food plant and traditional vegetable, as well as to
isolate and identify its bioactive constituents Ethnobotanical reports on
the use of G atroviridis as an anti-infective agent and biopreservative,
coupled with the paucity of scientific reports on the biological activities of
G atroviridis were the basis for selecting this plant as the subject of this
study Crude extracts (methanol dimethyl sulfmade-91) of various parts of
this plant were screened for antimicrobial (disc diffusion method), Cytotoxic
(microtitration method), brine shrimp toxic, antitumour-promoting (Epstem
Barr Virus activation assay) and antioxidant (ferric thiocyanate and
thiobarbitunc assays) activities. The crude extracts exhibited
predominantly antibacterial activity with the roots showing the strongest
inhibition against the test bacteria at the minimum inhibitory dose (MID) of
156µg/disc. Although all the extracts failed to inhibit the growth of most
of the test fungi, significant antifungal activity against Cladosporium
herbarum was exhibited by most notably the fruit extract (MID 100 µg),
and the leaf extract (MID 400 µg) None of the extracts were Significantly cytotoxic and lethal towards brine shrimps. The root, leaf, trunk and stem
bark extracts (except for the fruits) showed strong antioxidant activity
exceeding that of the standard antioxidant, α-tocopherol. Antitumour promoting
activity (> 95% inhibition) was shown by the fruit, leaf, stem and
trunk bark extracts
