Anthocleista vogelii Planch is a medicinal plant traditionally used in West Africa for the management and treatment of diabetes mellitus. To determine the antidiabetic activities of chloroform fraction (CF) of Anthocleista vogelii Planch root bark in rats with diet- and alloxan-induced obesity-diabetes. Inhibitory activities of CF against α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities were determined in vitro. Three weeks old rats were fed with high-fat diet for 9 weeks to induce obesity prior to further induction of diabetes using alloxan (150 mg/kg body weight, i.p.). Blood glucose levels and body weight were measured every 7 days throughout the experiment. Glucose tolerance was assessed in normal and CF-treated rats on day 21. Terminal blood samples were collected from sacrificed animals for the measurement of serum insulin levels. Pancreases were excised from treated and untreated animals for histopathological examination. LCMS/MS chromatographic profile of CF via positive and negative modes revealed 13 and 23 compounds respectively. Further analysis revealed quebrachitol (QCT), loganin, sweroside, oleoside 11-methyl ester and ferulic acid, which have been previously reported for their antidiabetic activities, as constituents of CF. CF inhibited activities of α-amylase (IC50 = 51.60 ± 0.92 µg/ml) and α-glucosidase (IC50 = 5.86 ± 0.97 µg/ml) in a dose-dependent manner. Treatment of animals with obesity-diabetes with 100 and 200 mg/kg CF significantly improved glucose tolerance (P < 0.001) and enhanced serum insulin levels (P < 0.05) compared to diabetic control rats. Antidiabetic activities of CF might be mediated via inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities, elevation of serum insulin concentration, and enhancement of insulin and leptin sensitivity in obesity-diabetes rats. This study further substantiates the traditional use of A. vogelii in the management and treatment of diabetes in Africa and encourages further studies to investigate its mechanism of action.

Contamination of water by ${\mathrm{Pb}}^{2+}$ and the threat of invasive vegetation affects the quality and quantity of water accessible to all life forms and has become a primary concern to South Africa and the world at large. This paper synthesized, characterized, and evaluated the resins from tannin-rich invasive Acacia species as an environmentally benign ${\mathrm{Pb}}^{2+}$ adsorbent. The analysis of the pore volume and surface area of the resins reveals a small pore dimension of 9 $\times$ 10⁻³ cc/g and large surface area (2.31–8.65 m²/g), presenting suitable physical parameters for adsorption of ${\mathrm{Pb}}^{2+}$ . Langmuir model offers the best correlation data at pH 6 with maximum monolayer coverage capacity of 189.30, 105.70 and 98.82 mg/g for silver, black and green wattle tannin resins in aqueous solutions, respectively. The kinetic data suitably fits into a pseudo-second-order model, with the Dubinin–Radushkevich adsorption energy (E) $\le$ 7.07 KJ/mol and intra-particle diffusion model confirming an associated physisorption process within the bio-sorption system. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) data of the resins were informative of the high thermal stability and chelating functionality such as -OH and -NH₂ responsible for the removal of ${\mathrm{Pb}}^{2+}$ . All the resins showed good adsorption characteristics while silver wattle tannin resin has the best adsorption capacity compared to black and green wattle tannin resins. This study provides a prototype adsorbent from invasive plants for the removal of ${\mathrm{Pb}}^{2+}$ in water.

Obesity increases the risk of developing a number of diseases such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, stroke and heart attack. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of ethanolic root bark extract of Anthocleista vogelii on weight reduction in high carbohydrate diet (HCD) induced obesity in male Wistar rats. Thirty male Wistar rats were housed in three steel cages containing 10 rats each. For the period of obesity induction, Group 1 was fed with normal pellet diet (NPD), while Groups 2 and 3 were fed with HCD for 14 weeks. During the 4 weeks treatment period, Group 1 was fed with NPD, Groups 2 and 3 were fed with HCD, and only Group 3 received 500 mg/kg b.w A. vogelii extract. The ethanolic root bark extract of A. vogelii significantly decreased (P<0.05) food intake, body weight, total fat mass, adiposity index and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, but showed no significant difference (P<0.05) in body mass index, total cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, very low density lipoprotein cholesterol when compared with the HCD obese control. The results indicated that the ethanolic root bark extract of Anthocleista vogelii has potential to reduce weight in animals. Key words: Anthocleista vogelii, obesity, body mass index, total fat mass, adiposity index, lipid profile, high carbohydrate diet.

Introduction: Obesity is increasing worldwide. Due to the unavailability of affordable obesity drugs in most parts of Nigeria, many overweight and obese people rely on medicinal plants to manage obesity. Thus, the aim of this study is to document medicinal plants traditionally used in the treatment and management of obesity in the North Central Zone of Nigeria, determine the plants to which pharmacological assessment of their use in obesity management has not been reported, and assess their toxicity based on the literature. Methods: Semistructured questionnaires and interviews were used to assess sociodemographic information of the 700 herb sellers/practitioners (100 for each state) who consented to participate in the study. Information gathered on plants that are traditionally used in the management of obesity included administration/dosage, method of preparation, plant part used, method of growth, and plant type. The field study was conducted over a one‐year period, from March 2018 to March 2019. Reports of pharmacological activity pertaining to obesity as well as toxicity of the plants were obtained from the literature via scientific databases (Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, SciFinder, AJOL, PubChem, and other web sources) after the field survey. Results: A total of 39 families and 70 plant species were used to treat or manage obesity. The majority of plant species used resulted in the family Leguminosae. The relative frequency of citation (RFC) and percentage values for the five most frequently used plants were as follows: Citrus aurantifolia (0.0500; 3.56%), Citrus limon (0.0457; 3.26%), Garcinia kola (0.0429; 3.05%), Zingiber officinale (0.0429; 3.05%), and Allium sativum (0.0414; 2.95%). The majority of the medications were prepared as decoctions (50.5%), and cultivated plants (62.86%) were in the majority of plants used. Results showed that 23 plants have no pharmacological report for antiobesity activities while among the five frequently used plants, only Garcinia kola was reported toxic in preclinical models. Conclusions: This paper provides a valuable compilation of the plants used in obesity treatment in the study area by indigenous healers, highlights plants with no reported pharmacological activity pertaining to obesity, and indicates the toxicity profile of used plants. However, further studies on the mechanism of action are warranted, especially where no reports were obtained.