DETERMINATION OF THE PHYTOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF ETHANOLIC AND AQUEOUS PLANT EXTRACTS OF EUPHORBIA HIRTA TOWARDS THE INHIBITION OF DERMATOPHYTES

Abstract

Medicinal plants have evolved as essential preventive and therapeutic aids for various ailments. Approximately 2.5 million species of higher plants remain unexplored for their pharmacological activities. This study was aimed at screening of phytochemical properties of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of leaves, stem, flower, and whole parts of Euphorbia hirta extract. Fresh leaves, stem, flower and the whole plant of Euphorbia hirta were collected from the Centenary Park, opposite 44 Reference Army Hospital, Kaduna North, Kaduna, Nigeria. The entire plant was identified and authenticated by a Botanist from the department of Biological Sciences, NDA. The collected plant parts were processed in the laboratory using standard procedure. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the phytochemical properties of the leaves stem, and flower of Euphorbia hirta was carried out using standard method. Results obtained from this study indicated that aqueous extracts yielded mean values of 7.93 mg/g for flowers, 8.18 mg/g for leaves, 8.65 mg/g for stems, and 6.3 mg/g for the whole plant. For the ethanolic extracts, the highest value was observed in the stem with 5.8 mg/g, followed by the whole plant with 6.43 mg/g, the leaves with 5.35 mg/g, and the flowers with the lowest value at 0.84 mg/g. Phytochemical properties of E. hirta could be employ in the pharmacological studies as these compounds have been known to possess antimicrobial properties..