TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover page  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         i

Certification-          –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         ii

Dedication-  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         iii

Acknowledgements-        –         –         –         –         –         –         –         iv

Table of Contents- –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         v-vi

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION        –         –         –         –         1-2

CHAPTER TWO: DESCRIPTION OF Tetrapleura tetraptera-       3-4

2.1     Phytochemical composition of Tetrapleura tetraptera-     –         5-6

2.2     Nutritional profile of Tetrapleura tetraptera- –         –         –         6-7

2.3     Ethnopharmacological uses of Tetrapleura tetraptera-      –         7-8

2.4     Other uses of Tetrapleura tetraptera – –         –         –         –         8-9

2.5     How to use Tetrapleura tetraptera –    –         –         –         –         9-10

CHAPTER THREE: HEALTH BENEFIT OF Tetrapleura tetraptera

3.1     Medicinal Benefit- –         –         –         –         –         –         –         11-15

3.2     Biological Activities-       –         –         –         –         –         –         16

3.2.1  Anti- Inflammatory Activity-     –         –         –         –         –         16

3.2.1  Anti diabetic Activity-     –         –         –         –         –         –         16-17

3.2.3  Analgesic Properties-       –         –         –         –         –         –         17

3.2.4  Antimicrobial Activities- –         –         –         –         –         –         18-19

3.2.5  Antimalarial Activity-      –         –         –         –         –         –         19

CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

4.1     Summary-    –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         20-21

4.2     Conclusion- –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         21

References

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Over the past years, plants have become an indispensable source of food and medicine. Most people rely greatly on medicinal plants as an important source of remedy and treatment for most casual and life threatening diseases. (Nweze and Nwakwagu, 2010).

As a result, this medicinal plant has a growing need all over the World. Aside from tackling diseases, people resort more to these medicinal plant as a means of reducing the use of chemical (orthodox) medicines that could strongly cause harm to human health.

Interestingly, these plants can be used as cooking herbs, spices, seasonings and preservatives. But the truth is that we often consume most of these essential medicinal plants in the form of spices without even acknowledging what our bodies gain from them (Orwa et al., 2009).

Furthermore, the use of these medicinal plants as food, preservatives, spices and as instrument for preventing and tackling the development of microorganisms in human bodies has become an area of extensive studies. One of such valuable medicinal plants is Aridan. The botanical name is known as Tetrapleura tetraptera and it is a flowering plant that belongs to the mimosaceae or pea family (Aladesanmi, 2007).

Aridan has a high medicinal and aromatic value and as such it is used for several purposes ranging from culinary, healing, and therapeutic to cosmetology. Researchers also reveal that this plant has anti-inflammatory, hypotensive, neuromuscular, cardiovascular, anti-ulcerative, molluscicidal and anti-microbial properties (Adetunji, 2006).