Ariaya Hymete

Background: Wild edible plants supplement households′ food supply as seasonal or emergency foods in different communities of Ethiopia. However, local people consume them without considering their nutritional values. Objective: This study is aimed at evaluating the nutritional value, antinutritional, antioxidant, and phytochemical profiles of Saba comorensis (Bojer ex A.DC.) Pichon fruits, Syzygium guineense (Wild.) DC. subsp. macrocarpum (Engl.) F. White fruits, and Dioscorea praehensilis Benth. tubers consumed in Dibatie district, western Ethiopia. Methods: Juices of edible plants were used to determine pH, acidity, and total soluble solid. Lyophilized powders were analyzed to determine vitamin C, proximate composition, minerals, antinutritional factors, antioxidant capacity, and phytoconstituents. Results: The S. comorensis fruits had the highest ( p < 0.05) acidity, vitamin C, and total soluble solid. The studied plants contained 2.50%–15.50% crude fiber, 0.75%–4.00% crude fat, 4.38%–10.50% crude protein, 59.63%–68.83% carbohydrate, and 267.75%–324.08 kcal/100 g energy. The studied plants had minerals like calcium (522.27–995.04 mg/100 g), iron (19.80–111.94 mg/100 g), magnesium (923.25–1592.18 mg/100 g), manganese (0.50–5.72 mg/100 g), potassium (591.69–1357.71 mg/100 g), sodium (0.60–17.17 mg/100 g), and zinc (1.00–1.74 mg/100 g). The tested plants had 65.11–70.67 mg/100 g phytates, 170.00–790.00 mg/100 g oxalates, and 196.51–11147.55 mg CE/100 g tannins. S. comorensis fruits showed substantial DPPH free radical scavenging activity with an IC ₅₀ value of 0.07 mg/mL, because they were significantly ( p < 0.05) the highest in phenolics, flavonoids, and alkaloids. Conclusion: The investigated plants were rich suppliers of valuable macro‐ and micronutrients and phytochemicals, along with considerable antinutritional and antioxidant properties. Thus, they require special conservation and management measures for sustainable usage by the local communities and Ethiopian people as a whole.

Background: Plants deliver livelihood and food for millions of people in the world. Indeed, wild edible plants support rural communities in developing countries to overcome seasonal unfavorable conditions. In rural areas of Ethiopia, wild edible plants play an indispensable role in fighting food insecurity as emergency or supplementary foods. Hence, this research was aimed at studying the ethnobotanical assessment of wild edible plants in Dibatie district, Metekel zone, western Ethiopia. Methods: Ethnobotanical data was collected using a semi-structured interview, field observation, focus group discussions, a market survey, and the ranking of selected plants. Besides, voucher specimens were collected and stored at the National Herbarium of Ethiopia. Descriptive statistics, preference ranking, direct matrix ranking, and familiarity index were computed for data analysis. Results: This study has documented 54 wild edible plant species belonging to 33 plant families and 46 genera. Of these, most (38.90%) had tree growth habits. Wild edible plants bear mostly fruits (72.20%) as edible parts. Local people usually consume these plants freshly raw as complementary foods, though some wild edibles require processing. They were mostly harvested in the January (31.48%) and May (27.78%) months, with the least collected in September (7.41%). Most wild edible plants (78.57%) were available in uncontrolled habitats, while others (21.43%) live in farmlands, home gardens, and as live fences. Out of the recorded plants, about 98% had additional uses besides their nutritional values. Conclusion: Wild edible plants assist the livelihoods of the local people in food security, agriculture, energy sources, construction, medicines, ecological services, aesthetics, income generation, and household utensils. Nevertheless, wild edible plants are recently threatened due to various anthropogenic factors in the study area. Thus, they need wise use and in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures from all the concerned bodies for sustainable use in the future.

Depression, a global cause of disability and premature death, is often treated by traditional healers in Africa using medicinal herbs such as Ximenia americana (L.). With recent pharmacological studies showing the potential antidepressant properties of X. americana extract, this study aimed to evaluate the antidepressant-like effects of the compound(s) isolated from X. americana extract using the forced swim test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST) models predictive of depression. The extracts, administered orally within a dose range of 100400mg/kg, notably decreased the immobility time in both the FST and the TST. The most significant reduction occurred at the highest dose of 400mg/kg, with a decrease of 117.66s in FST and 53.5s in TST. However, this reduction in immobility was not linked to changes in movements, as observed in an open-field test (OFT), suggesting that the effect of the extracts was not due to activation of locomotion. Subsequently, a sesquiterpene lactone, dehydrocostus lactone (1) was isolated through solubility-based fractionation and column chromatography of the active root bark extract of X. americana. Dehydrocostus lactone (400mg/kg) demonstrated a 46.50s reduction in immobility time in the FST, which was comparable to the positive control, imipramine (30mg/kg). With a highly favorable docking score of 8.365kcal/mol on an antidepressant target, monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A; pdb ID: 2BXS), dehydrocostus lactone (1) potentially outperforms the standard MAO-A inhibitor drug, isocarboxazid (5.847kcal/mol). Dehydrocostus lactone (1) displayed strong interactions involving hydrogen bond and hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions with specific MAO-A binding site residues. These findings highlight that the antidepressant-like activity of X. americana is partly attributed to the presence of dehydrocostus lactone. Additionally, it also supports the traditional medicinal use of the plant for treating depression.

In this study four tea samples Gumero black, Wushwush black and Wushwush green from Agri- Ceft Plc and East Africa black tea leaves from East African Agribusiness Plc were investigated for total polyphenols, caffeine, catechin and L-theanine content. The aqueous extracts were investigated for their antioxidant and antileishmanial property and effect on amphotericin B, miltefocine and sodium stibogluconate, the commonly used antileishmanial drugs. Antileishmanial studies were conducted on L. aethiopica. Wushwush green tea had the highest content of polyphenol (19.98 ± 1.15 mg gallic acid equivalent /100 g dry leaf weight), catechin (37.06 mg/g) and L-theanine (48.54 mg/g but the lowest caffeine content). It exhibited the highest antioxidant activity. The highest antioxidant effect of Wushwush green tea may be attributed to the highest polyphenol content. East African black tea had the lowest L-theanine (20.72 mg/g) and antioxidant activity but the highest caffeine (16.60 mg/g) content. Wushwush green tea showed slight inhibitory effect on L. aethiopica while the lack tea extracts (Gumero, East Africa and Wushwush) exhibited no antileishmanial activity. Wushwush green tea did not show any synergistic or antagonistic effect on the antileishmanial drugs used in this study while Gumero, East Africa and Wushwush black tea extracts exhibited dose dependant inhibitory activity to the commonly used antileishmanial drugs included in this study.