Abstract: Most people die in Africa due to plasmodium with lead to complication cases principally in Plasmodium falciparum infection. For unknown reasons, P. falciparum progress to severe malaria resulting in high mortality rate in children mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Difficulties in severe malaria therapy result in complexity to predict early symptoms and when people can develop severe malaria. For adjunctive therapy, New drug are need, to improve outcome in cerebral malaria. Asparagus schweinfurthii is a perennial plants with multiple proprieties including antiprotozoal, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties with emerging antimalarial potential. The influence of A. schweinfurthii administration to rescue and prior to Plasmodium berghei infection on parasitemia induction is there reported. Extract of A. schweinfurthii was administered at doses of 38. 12, 19.06, 9. 5 and 3. 8 mg/kg to mice (15–18 g) 72h before intraperitoneal infection with P. berghei (prophylaxis test) or days 6 post-infection (pi) (rescues therapy). Parasitemia induction and progression, clinical signs of experimental cerebral malaria and temperature were recorded during sub-chronic studies (18 days). Administration of A. schweinfurthii in pre-infected animals preserved significantly temperature loss (p<0,001). The plant extract also abolish significantly (p<0, 001) parasitemia and clinical signs of experimental cerebral malaria while oral Cofantrine (10 mg/kg) failed to prevent malaria induction. Administered orally, prior to the infestation of mice with plasmodium berghei; A. schweinfurthii administration influenced parasitemia patency and parasitemia progression as well as temperature loss. This may suggest possible chemoprophylaxis effects of A. schweinfurthii on malaria parasite.Abstract: Most people die in Africa due to plasmodium with lead to complication cases principally in Plasmodium falciparum infection. For unknown reasons, P. falciparum progress to severe malaria resulting in high mortality rate in children mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Difficulties in severe malaria therapy result in complexity to predict early symptoms and...Show More
Abstract: This study investigated the antibacterial activities of crude extracts of three Tanzanian plants; Sorindeia madagascariensis, Mucuna stans and Albizia harveyi, following reports on their ethnomedicinal applications and those of their related species. The reported ethnomedicinal applications of the selected plants include treatment of; tuberculosis, urinary tract infections and bacterial infections of the skin among other applications. Plant material were collected from Njombe, Iringa and Pwani regions of Tanzania. Phytochemical screening and bioautography were conducted as per adopted methods. Screening for antibacterial activity was done by broth microdilution assay against the standard and clinical isolates of bacteria. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of phenolics, tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids and glycosides among the plant extracts. Antibacterial activity-study displayed weak to moderate antibacterial activities of the plant extracts, whereby S. madagascariensis leaf extract displayed the highest activity against; Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), clinical isolate of S. aureus and a methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolate, at a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 192±0.00 µg/mL. Bioautography of S. madagascariensis indicated this antibacterial activity to be associated with polar compounds. MICs observed due to M. stans ranged from 770 to 3080 µg/mL against all tested bacterial species whereas the observed MICs due to A. harveyi ranged from 1283 to > 3080 µg/mL. These findings reveal the antibacterial activities of the selected plants, corroborating their ethnomedicinal applications. Bioautography-guided isolation of compounds from these plants particularly S. madagascariensis, may give leads for newer antibacterial agents.Abstract: This study investigated the antibacterial activities of crude extracts of three Tanzanian plants; Sorindeia madagascariensis, Mucuna stans and Albizia harveyi, following reports on their ethnomedicinal applications and those of their related species. The reported ethnomedicinal applications of the selected plants include treatment of; tuberculosis,...Show More
Abstract: The use of plant roots and stem barks is a common practice in traditional medicine. This practice could lead to the disappearance of some plant species. Anacardium occidentale (L) is a plant whose stem bark is commonly used for the traditional management of diabetes and hypertension in Mali. In the hope of replacing this organ with the leaves, a comparative phytochemical study of the two organs was carried out. The Phytochemical screening was carried out through colouring and precipitation reactions. The Folin-Ciocalteu reagent was used to determine the content of total phenolic compounds whereas the flavonoids were determined using aluminium trichloride. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by the TAC and DPPH methods. The results obtained have shown that both organs were rich in secondary metabolites with a similar phytochemical profile. Also, it was found that regardless of the solvent used, the leaves contained the highest levels of total phenols and flavonoids. Thus, the contents of total phenols in methanolic extracts have been 211.2±21.8 mg GAE/g and 129.72±5.15 mg GAE/g for leaves and stem barks respectively. As for those of flavonoids, they have been 59.02±5.88 mg QE/g for leaves and 31.30±2.74 mg QE/g for stem barks. However, the stem barks showed the higher antioxidant activity than the leaves, which is also appreciable. In sum, other studies such as toxicological one must be conducted before replacing stem barks with leaves in the traditional management of these two pathologies.Abstract: The use of plant roots and stem barks is a common practice in traditional medicine. This practice could lead to the disappearance of some plant species. Anacardium occidentale (L) is a plant whose stem bark is commonly used for the traditional management of diabetes and hypertension in Mali. In the hope of replacing this organ with the leaves, a co...Show More
