scholarly journals Antiplasmodial and Cytotoxic Activities of Extracts of Selected Medicinal Plants Used to Treat Malaria in Embu County, Kenya

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Bibianne Waiganjo ◽  
Gervason Moriasi ◽  
Jared Onyancha ◽  
Nelson Elias ◽  
Francis Muregi

Malaria is a deadly disease caused by a protozoan parasite whose mode of transmission is through a female Anopheles mosquito. It affects persons of all ages; however, pregnant mothers, young children, and the elderly suffer the most due to their dwindled immune state. The currently prescribed antimalarial drugs have been associated with adverse side effects ranging from intolerance to toxicity. Furthermore, the costs associated with conventional approach of managing malaria are arguably high especially for persons living in low-income countries, hence the need for alternative and complementary approaches. Medicinal plants offer a viable alternative because of their few associated side effects, are arguably cheaper, and are easily accessible. Based on the fact that studies involving antimalarial medicinal plants as potential sources of efficacious and cost-effective pharmacotherapies are far between, this research was designed to investigate antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activities of organic and aqueous extracts of selected plants used by Embu traditional medicine practitioners to treat malaria. The studied plants included Erythrina abyssinica (stem bark), Schkuhria pinnata (whole plant), Sterculia africana (stem bark), Terminalia brownii (leaves), Zanthoxylum chalybeum (leaves), Leonotis mollissima (leaves), Carissa edulis (leaves), Tithonia diversifolia (leaves and flowers), and Senna didymobotrya (leaves and pods). In vitro antiplasmodial activity studies of organic and water extracts were carried out against chloroquine-sensitive (D6) and chloroquine-resistance (W2) strains of Plasmodium falciparum. In vivo antiplasmodial studies were done by Peter’s four-day suppression test to test for their in vivo antimalarial activity against P. berghei. Finally, cytotoxic effects and safety of the studied plant extracts were evaluated using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) rapid calorimetric assay technique. The water and methanolic extracts of T. brownii and S. africana and dichloromethane extracts of E. abyssinica, S. pinnata, and T. diversifolia leaves revealed high in vitro antiplasmodial activities (IC50≤10 μg/ml). Further, moderate in vivo antimalarial activities were observed for water and methanolic extracts of L. mollissima and S. africana and for dichloromethane extracts of E. abyssinica and T. diversifolia leaves. In this study, aqueous extracts of T. brownii and S. africana demonstrated high antiplasmodial activity and high selectivity indices values (SI≥10) and were found to be safe. It was concluded that T. brownii and S. africana aqueous extracts were potent antiplasmodial agents. Further focused studies geared towards isolation of active constituents and determination of in vivo toxicities to ascertain their safety are warranted.

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1023-1028
Author(s):  
Shehzad Zareen ◽  
Shahid Niaz Khan ◽  
Muhammad Adnan ◽  
Sumbal Haleem ◽  
Rehman Ali ◽  
...  

Abstract Malaria is an intraerythrocytic parasitic disease caused by the genus Plasmodium of which Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum are the major species. The high cost and associated side effects of antimalarial drugs triggered research about medicinal plants to develop alternative and low-cost drugs with lesser side effects. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the antiplasmodial activity of the Eucalyptus obliqua L’Hér. leaf extract against P. vivax and its phytochemicals in in vitro. The methanolic extract of E. obliqua was prepared and different concentrations of the crude extract and phytochemicals were used against P. vivax. The methanolic extract of E. obliqua showed profound antiplasmodial activity (LD50 0.084 mg/mL; 80.04%) at 0.1 mg/mL concentration after 24 h. Alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, and tannins were found in the E. obliqua methanolic extract. Only alkaloids at the concentration (0.1 mg/mL) exhibited 60.93% inhibition of P. vivax. The methanolic extract of E. obliqua exhibits antiplasmodial activity in vitro. However, in vivo efficacy is an important aspect in the testing of medicinal plants against parasitic infections and should be evaluated in future.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 1227-1243
Author(s):  
Hina Qamar ◽  
Sumbul Rehman ◽  
D.K. Chauhan

Cancer is the second leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although chemotherapy and radiotherapy enhance the survival rate of cancerous patients but they have several acute toxic effects. Therefore, there is a need to search for new anticancer agents having better efficacy and lesser side effects. In this regard, herbal treatment is found to be a safe method for treating and preventing cancer. Here, an attempt has been made to screen some less explored medicinal plants like Ammania baccifera, Asclepias curassavica, Azadarichta indica, Butea monosperma, Croton tiglium, Hedera nepalensis, Jatropha curcas, Momordica charantia, Moringa oleifera, Psidium guajava, etc. having potent anticancer activity with minimum cytotoxic value (IC50 >3μM) and lesser or negligible toxicity. They are rich in active phytochemicals with a wide range of drug targets. In this study, these medicinal plants were evaluated for dose-dependent cytotoxicological studies via in vitro MTT assay and in vivo tumor models along with some more plants which are reported to have IC50 value in the range of 0.019-0.528 mg/ml. The findings indicate that these plants inhibit tumor growth by their antiproliferative, pro-apoptotic, anti-metastatic and anti-angiogenic molecular targets. They are widely used because of their easy availability, affordable price and having no or sometimes minimal side effects. This review provides a baseline for the discovery of anticancer drugs from medicinal plants having minimum cytotoxic value with minimal side effects and establishment of their analogues for the welfare of mankind.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-26
Author(s):  
Sayema Khanum ◽  
Md Shahid Sarwar ◽  
Mohammad Safiqul Islam

Wedelia chinensis is a widely used anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective medicinal plant in Bangladesh. In this study, analgesic, neurological, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the ethanolic extract of leaf and stem bark of W. chinensis were investigated. Oral administration of the ethanolic extract of W. chinensis (200- and 300-mg/kg body weight) was investigated on animal model for neurological activity using open field test and hole cross test. Acetic acid induced writhing method was used to assess the analgesic activity. DPPH (1,1-diphenyl, 2-picryl hydrazyl) radical scavenging assay was used for determining the antioxidant activity, while brine shrimp lethality bioassay was used for investigating cytotoxicity. The ethanol extract of the plant produced significant reduction (P<0.05) of locomotion in both doses (200- and 300-mg/kg body weight) indicating pronounced neurological activity. Oral administration of alcoholic leaves and stem extracts significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited writhing response in mice. The percentage of scavenging of DPPH free radical was found to be concentration dependent with IC50 value of 44.10 ± 0.65 and 38.96 ± 0.50 μg/ml for leaves and stem extracts, respectively. Our findings indicate that W. chinensis may be a source of natural antioxidant with potent analgesic, neurological and cytotoxic activities. Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 22(1): 18-26, 2019


Planta Medica ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (06) ◽  
pp. 482-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Muganga ◽  
Luc Angenot ◽  
Monique Tits ◽  
Michel Frédérich

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elahe Tajbakhsh ◽  
Tebit Emmanuel Kwenti ◽  
Parya Kheyri ◽  
Saeed Nezaratizade ◽  
David S. Lindsay ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Malaria still constitutes a major public health menace, especially in tropical and subtropical countries. Close to half a million people mainly children in Africa, die every year from the disease. With the rising resistance to frontline drugs (artemisinin-based combinations), there is a need to accelerate the discovery and development of newer anti-malarial drugs. A systematic review was conducted to identify the African medicinal plants with significant antiplasmodial and/or anti-malarial activity, toxicity, as wells as assessing the variation in their activity between study designs (in vitro and in vivo). Methods Key health-related databases including Google Scholar, PubMed, PubMed Central, and Science Direct were searched for relevant literature on the antiplasmodial and anti-malarial activities of African medicinal plants. Results In total, 200 research articles were identified, a majority of which were studies conducted in Nigeria. The selected research articles constituted 722 independent experiments evaluating 502 plant species. Of the 722 studies, 81.9%, 12.4%, and 5.5% were in vitro, in vivo, and combined in vitro and in vivo, respectively. The most frequently investigated plant species were Azadirachta indica, Zanthoxylum chalybeum, Picrilima nitida, and Nauclea latifolia meanwhile Fabaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Annonaceae, Rubiaceae, Rutaceae, Meliaceae, and Lamiaceae were the most frequently investigated plant families. Overall, 248 (34.3%), 241 (33.4%), and 233 (32.3%) of the studies reported very good, good, and moderate activity, respectively. Alchornea cordifolia, Flueggea virosa, Cryptolepis sanguinolenta, Zanthoxylum chalybeum, and Maytenus senegalensis gave consistently very good activity across the different studies. In all, only 31 (4.3%) of studies involved pure compounds and these had significantly (p = 0.044) higher antiplasmodial activity relative to crude extracts. Out of the 198 plant species tested for toxicity, 52 (26.3%) demonstrated some degree of toxicity, with toxicity most frequently reported with Azadirachta indica and Vernonia amygdalina. These species were equally the most frequently inactive plants reported. The leaves were the most frequently reported toxic part of plants used. Furthermore, toxicity was observed to decrease with increasing antiplasmodial activity. Conclusions Although there are many indigenous plants with considerable antiplasmodial and anti-malarial activity, the progress in the development of new anti-malarial drugs from African medicinal plants is still slothful, with only one clinical trial with Cochlospermum planchonii (Bixaceae) conducted to date. There is, therefore, the need to scale up anti-malarial drug discovery in the African region.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. e1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naseerud Din ◽  
Musharaf Ahmad ◽  
Muhammad Siddique ◽  
Asad Ali ◽  
Ishrat Naz ◽  
...  

Phytobiocides are a good alternative to chemicals in managing bacterial diseases including bacterial wilt of tomato caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. In the present research study, finely ground dried powders of seven widely available medicinal plants/weeds species viz., Peganum harmala (esfand or wild rue), Calotropis procera (sodom apple), Melia azedarach (white cedar), Allium sativum (garlic), Adhatoda vasica (malabar nut), Tagetes patula (marigold) and Nerium oleander (oleander) were assessed for their anti-microbial activity, both in-vitro (10% w/v) and in-vivo (10, 20, 30, and 40 g/kg of potted soil) against R. solanacearum. Aqueous extracts (prepared as 10% w/v, soaking for 48-72 h and filtering) of C. procera, A. vasica, and T. patula inhibited the in-vitro growth of the bacterial pathogen over 60% of that produced by the standard antibiotic streptomycin. A. sativum, N. oleander and P. harmala aqueous extracts were less effective while M. azedarach showed no effect against R. solanacearum. The higher dose (40 g/kg of soil) of C. procera, A. vasica and T. patula decreased disease severity quite effectively and increased yield and plant growth characters as much as the standard antibiotic did. No phytotoxicity of medicinal plants powder was observed on tomato plants. Alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins and terpenoids were detected in the aqueous extracts of T. patula and A. vasica whereas C. procera was found to have only alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and saponins. Our data suggest that dried powders of T. patula, C. procera and A. vasica (40 g/kg of soil) could be used as an effective component in the integrated disease management programs against bacterial wilt of tomato.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Mariscal Brice Tchatat Tali ◽  
Cedric Derick Jiatsa Mbouna ◽  
Lauve Rachel Yamthe Tchokouaha ◽  
Patrick Valere Tsouh Fokou ◽  
Jaures Marius Tsakem Nangap ◽  
...  

Background. Terminalia mantaly is used in Cameroon traditional medicine to treat malaria and related symptoms. However, its antiplasmodial efficacy is still to be established. Objectives. The present study is aimed at evaluating the in vitro and in vivo antiplasmodial activity and the oral acute toxicity of the Terminalia mantaly extracts. Materials and Methods. Extracts were prepared from leaves and stem bark of T. mantaly, by maceration in distilled water, methanol, ethanol, dichloromethane (DCM), and hexane. All extracts were initially screened in vitro against the chloroquine-resistant strain W2 of P. falciparum to confirm its in vitro activity, and the most potent one was assessed in malaria mouse model at three concentrations (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg/bw). Biochemical, hematological, and histological parameters were also determined. Results. Overall, 7 extracts showed in vitro antiplasmodial activity with IC50 ranging from 0.809 μg/mL to 5.886 μg/mL. The aqueous extract from the stem bark of T. mantaly (Tmsbw) was the most potent (IC50=0.809 μg/mL) and was further assessed for acute toxicity and efficacy in Plasmodium berghei-infected mice. Tmsbw was safe in mice with a median lethal dose (LD50) higher than 2000 mg/kg of body weight. It also exerted a good antimalarial efficacy in vivo with ED50 of 69.50 mg/kg and had no significant effect on biochemical, hematological, and histological parameters. Conclusion. The results suggest that the stem bark extract of T. mantaly possesses antimalarial activity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wichit Suthammarak ◽  
Pornpayom Numpraphrut ◽  
Ratiya Charoensakdi ◽  
Neelobol Neungton ◽  
Vachara Tunrungruangtavee ◽  
...  

Crude extract from the pericarp of the mangosteen (mangosteen extract [ME]) has exhibited several medicinal properties in both animal models and human cell lines. Interestingly, the cytotoxic activities were always observed in nonpolar fraction of the extract whereas the potent antioxidant was often found in polar fraction. Although it has been demonstrated that the polar fraction of ME exhibited the antioxidant activity, the safety of the polar fraction of ME has never been thoroughly investigated in humans. In this study, we investigated the safety of oral administration of the polar fraction of ME in 11 healthy Thai volunteers. During a 24-week period of the study, only minor and tolerable side effects were reported; no serious side effects were documented. Blood chemistry studies also showed no liver damage or kidney dysfunction in all subjects. We also demonstrated antioxidant property of the polar fraction of ME bothin vitroandin vivo. Interestingly, oral administration of the polar fraction of ME enhanced the antioxidant capability of red blood cells and decreased oxidative damage to proteins within red blood cells and whole blood.


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