Advances in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety

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Phyto-Chemical Screening of Wild Types and Tissue Cultured Yellow Oleander Thevetia Peruviana Pers.K.Schum in Kenya

Odhiambo PO, Makobe, Boga MH, Muigai A, Schumacher M and Kiesecker H

Search for lesser known crops or plant species with potential for human food, animal feed, and medicine or as bio-fuel has continued to receive greater attention in recent times due to increasing costs of food, fuel prices and climatic change. Thevetia peruviana Pers. K.Schum (Yellow Oleander), family Apocynaceae is one out of 250,000 species of plant endowed with seed oil, proteins and biologically active principles which can be harnessed for food, bio-fuel and medicinal purposes in Kenya. However its utilization has been hampered by the coexistence of the oil, proteins and the biologically active principles in the seed kernels of the plant.
Phyto-chemical screening for biologically active principles was done by solvent extraction, thin layer chromatography (TLC) for detection of the biologically active principles and Gas Chromatography (GC) for fatty acid determination. Extracts of the biologically active principles were obtained from fermented and non fermented samples from mature T. peruviana plants, young germinated seedlings and tissue cultured materials. Authentic sample for TLC of peruvoside was bought from SIGMA-ALDRICH Inc. of United States of America. The plant species has high potential for production of seed oil, pharmacologically active principles and proteins especially in the dry land areas along the Lake Victoria basin region in Kenya.