African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12481

Full Length Research Paper

Analysis of a gum from the exudates of Dichrostachys cinerea (L.) Wight & Am

  M. Gundidza1, V. Mmbengwa2, S. R. Sibambo1, M. L. Magwa3, O. Mushisha4, E. Gundidza5 and A. Samie6*
  1School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa. 2School of Natural Resource Management, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, George Campus, P/Bag X6531, George 6530, Republic of South Africa. 3Department of Botany and Electron Microscope Unit, University Of Fort Harare, Private  Bag X131400, Alice 5700 , Eastern Cape, South Africa. 4Department of Pharmacy, University of Zimbabwe P. O. Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant Harare, Zimbabwe. 514 Cypress Grove, Redcliff, Zimbabwe. 6Department of Microbiology, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandou 0950, South Africa.
Email: [email protected], [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 06 April 2011
  •  Published: 06 July 2011

Abstract

 

Only little research is currently underway on gums from African plants, yet Africa imports a lot of gums for pharmaceutical and food industries. This study was aimed to investigate the rheological properties, and the moisture and ash contents of the isolated gum resins from Dichrostachys cinerea. The gum from this plant exhibited low shear stress even at high concentrations of the gum. The moisture content obtained was 15.8 ± 0.3%, which was rather too high and would only be suitable for formulations that need to remain moisturized. The gum from this plant had little ash content (2.59 ± 0.01%). The gum from D. cinerea exhibited low shear stress at high concentrations, while the gum was profoundly affected by the addition of ions. In conclusion, this gum has potential as a product for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries. Further studies are needed to identify the phytoconstituents in the gum as well as toxicity studies.

 

Key words: Gum, exudates, Dichrostachys cinerea, rheology, moisture.

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This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

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