The antimicrobial, antioxidative, anti-inflammatory activity and cytotoxicity of different fractions of four South African Bauhinia species used traditionally to treat diarrhoea

Phenol-enriched extracts of four Bauhinia species namely Bauhinia bowkeri, Bauhinia galpinii, Bauhinia petersiana and Bauhinia variegata used as antidiarrhoeal therapies in South African traditional medicine were evaluated against factors associated with diarrhoea. All the crude extracts and their fractions of varied polarities have good activity against one or more diarrhoeal factors. However, the extracts need to be used with caution due to selective COX-1 inhibitory activity and the cytotoxicity potential against Vero cell lines.152