Chemistry (Track)




PRELIMINARY SCREENING OF SOME PLANTS EXTRACTS USED IN TRADITIONAL MALARIA THERAPY IN KANO-NIGERIAN FOR ANTI-PLASMODIAL ACTIVITY


N.T. Dabo, M. Ofori, A.K. Nyarko, D. Edo and L. Bimi

Department of Microbiology, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria.

Abstract:

Nine medicinal plants, distributed into eight families, used for treatment of malaria fever by the Hausa people of Kano-Nigeria were selected based on the traditional claims of the folks. These were collected and extracted using aqueous and organic solvents. A total of nineteen extracts and forty four extract-fractions were obtained.

Thirty extracts (7 aqueous extracts, 12 ethanol extracts and 11 methanol extracts-fraction) were selected and screened for their in vitro anti-plasmodial activities against laboratory adapted chloroquine susceptible Plasmodium falciparum strain 3D7. Seven (23.33%) of these extracts that exhibited 70% or more inhibition at 50µg/mL concentration were further evaluated to establish their potency levels. The respective IC50 values obtained ranged between 0.361±0.15µg/ml and 37.67±4.20µg/ml. CALF1 from the leaves of C. aurantifolia (Rutaceae) and CBLF1 (a combination of the leaves of C. aurantifolia, Carica papaya, Mangifera indica and Psidium guajava) were further screened against a clinical isolate of P. falciparum and recorded IC50 values similar to those obtained earlier against the laboratory strain, 12.42±3.94 µg/ml for CBLF1, and 29.69±0.65µg/ml for CALF1 respectively. It could be concluded that majority of the plants have demonstrated appreciable concentration dependant in vitro anti-plasmodial effects against the laboratory adapted and field strains P. falciparum.

Keywords: Plants Extracts, Traditional Malaria Therapy, Hausa people, Kano and Nigeria.