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  • Clinically anti inflammatory agents are used to

    2018-11-06

    Clinically, anti-inflammatory agents are used to relieve the symptoms of gout, and XO inhibitors are used to block the synthesis of uric acid. These two approaches are common treatments of gout. Allopurinol, a purine analog, is the most common XO inhibitor that functions to reduce serum urate level [1]. However, its use has some attendant side effects in patients, and for this reason it is usually contraindicated in patients with kidney or heart disease. The side effects include the risk of developing hypersensitivity syndrome that is characterized by renal impairment, hepatic dysfunction, fever, rashes, leucocytosis and eosinophilia [15]. These limitations of allopurinol have necessitated research into alternative treatment strategies for gout that could be safer and effective. In this regard, medicinal plants are widely used to treat gout, as previous studies have demonstrated that several of them with high level of flavonoids and other phenolics compounds possess XO inhibitory activity [16–18]. Plant-derived polyphenolics with antioxidant potential, including flavonoids and phenolic acids, can modulate the expression of pro-inflammatory signals and ameliorate inflammatory diseases such as arthritis [19,20]. Tetrapleura tetraptera, called “aidan” in the South-western part of Nigeria, and “ihokiriho” by the Ngwa people in the South-eastern part of Nigeria, is a purchase ap4 tree belonging to the family Mimosaceae. It is generally distributed in the lowland forest of tropical Africa. The fruits, made up of a fleshy pulp with small, brownish-black seeds, are green when tender and dark brown when fully ripe and possess high nutritional value [21]. When dry, they have a pleasant aroma, and therefore are used as spice in Central and West Africa [22]. This spicy property makes them valuable for preparing soup for nursing mothers from the first day of birth to prevent post-partum contraction [23]. Previous studies have demonstrated that different parts of the plant are used in ethnomedicine for the treatment of several ailments including diabetes mellitus, hypertension, intestinal parasites, malaria, asthma, epilepsy, schistosomiasis, wound healing and arthritis [24,25]. Recent studies have also revealed that the pod possesses antioxidant and amylase inhibitory activities [21]; the fruits and barks extracts also have antioxidant activities [22]. The aforementioned health benefits of T. tetraptera make it a promising functional food. Interestingly, functional foods of plant origin have continued to receive considerable research attention in the recent time due to their nutritional quality, therapeutic effects and presumed safety [26]. Hence, to further explore the health benefits of T. tetraptera, the present study characterized the phenolics of T. tetraptera fruit, and evaluated the XO inhibitory activity of its phenolic extract in the kidney, liver and lungs tissues of rats in vitro.
    Materials and methods
    Results The HPLC chromatogram of T. tetraptera fruits (Fig. 1) revealed the presence of the gallic acid (tR=13.07min; peak 1), catechin (tR=15.26min; peak 2), chlorogenic acid (tR=20.11min; peak 3), caffeic acid (tR=24.19; peak 4), ellagic acid (tR=29.87; peak 5), epicatechin (tR=35.46min; peak 6), rutin (tR=41.08min; peak 7), quercetin (tR=49.23min; peak 8), luteolin (tR=55.16min; peak 9) and apigenin (tR=62.73min; peak 10). The phenolics composition of the fruits is shown in Table 1. The flavonoids were in the order of apigenin>quercetin>rutin>epicatechin>luteolin>catechin; whereas the phenolic acids were in the order of caffeic acid>ellagic acid>gallic acid>chlorogenic acid. The ability of the extract to inhibit XO in the kidney, liver and lungs tissues homogenates of rats was tested, and the result is presented in Table 2 in terms of their half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50), in relation to allopurinol (positive control). The IC50 of both the extract and allopurinol on the XO in the homogenates of the three tissues varied significantly (P<0.05) in the order of liver>kidney>lungs. The pattern of inhibition of XO by the extract was dose-dependent as depicted in Fig. 2. Generally, allopurinol had a stronger inhibitory ability on the XO than the extract.