Kalanchoe crenata is a vegetable widely used in Cameroon and largely efficient in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. The effect of the water-ethanol extract of this plant (WEKC) on blood glucose levels was investigated in fasting normal and diet-induced diabetic rats (MACAPOS 1) after a short- and medium-term treatment. Diabetes was induced by submitting Wistar rats to a hypercaloric sucrose diet over 4 months. Six hours after a single oral administration of WEKC, 135 and 200 mg kg(-1) body weight extracts significantly (P < 0.01) reduced the blood glucose levels both in normal and diabetic rats without real dose-dependent effect. During the medium-term treatment, 200 mg kg(-1) WEKC administered daily for 4 weeks significantly reduced blood glucose levels within week 1 (P < 0.05), with a maximum effect at week 4 (-52%, P < 0.01), while maintaining glycaemia within the normal range. All the WEKC-treated diabetic rats exhibited significant (P < 0.01) increase in insulin sensitivity index (K (ITT)) compared with the initial time and to the untreated diabetic animals. Animals treated for 4 weeks exhibited a slight resistance in body-weight gain and decrease in food and water intake. The WEKC activities on all parameters assessed were comparable with the glibenclamide effects. Qualitative phytochemical screening revealed that K. crenata contains terpenoids, tannins, polysaccharids, saponins, flavonoids and alkaloids. The data suggest that K. crenata might contain important chemical components that could induce significant improvement in glucose clearance and/or uptake and resistance to body-weight gain and insulin sensitivity, and could be a potent alternative or complementary therapeutic substance in the control of type 2 diabetes and other insulin-resistant conditions.

Diarrheal disease, characterized by the release of more than three loose or liquid stools per day, remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children below 5 years of age in developing countries. Many drugs used in diarrhea management face contraindication and, with regard to infectious diarrhea, resistance of some bacterial strains; this therefore increases the need of new alternative and more effective drugs. This study aimed to evaluate anti-Shigella flexneri activities of Crinum jagus water/ethanol extract. In vitro activities were assayed by disc diffusion and agar dilution methods and in vivo section on Shigella flexneri-induced diarrhea in rats. This was done by oral administration of 9 X 108 CFU of Shigella flexneri to rats that were treated twice daily with Crinum jagus water/ethanol extract for seven consecutive days. Ciprofloxacin was used as positive control. Daily Shigella flexneri load was evaluated. After one treatment week, animals were then sacrificed and interleukins (IL-2 and INF-γ), immunoglobulins (IgA and IgM), motilin, vasoactive intestinal peptide, and ions (sodium, potassium, calcium, and chloride) levels were determined. Also, blood cell count was realized. Crinum jagus water/ethanol extract dose-dependently inhibited Shigella flexneri growth with inhibition diameter of 18.90 and 25.36 mm, respectively, at 0.39 and 200 mg/mL. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was 0.10 mg/mL and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was 0.30 mg/mL with MBC/MIC ratio of 3.0. In Shigella flexneri-induced diarrheic rats, Crinum jagus reduced (p<0.01) diarrheal stools emission and Shigella load and lowered IL-2, INF-γ, IgA, IgM, and motilin blood levels, whereas it increased (p<0.01) vasoactive intestinal peptide, sodium, potassium, calcium, and chloride blood levels. In diarrheal rats, Crinum jagus restored the decreasing white blood cells and haemoglobin and restored the damaged colon epithelium, where it reduced the density of mucus-filled goblet cells. These results confirm the use of Crinum jagus in ethnomedicine in diarrhea treatment.

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Inflammatory diseases are a real public health problem worldwide. Many synthetic drugs used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and immunosuppressive drugs have harmful side effects. However, there are natural products like propolis, which is traditionally used in the treatment of pain. The objective of this work was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of the ethyl ester of arachic acid, a compound isolated from Cameroonian propolis. The ethyl ester of arachic acid was isolated by chromatography of the ethanolic extract of propolis harvested at Tala-Mokolo (Far North Region of Cameroon) and identified by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra and the 1H-1H correlated spectroscopy. The anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of oral administration of arachic acid ethyl ester (12.5, 25.0, and 50.0 mg/kg bw) were evaluated using carrageenan-induced paw edema, xylene-induced ear edema, cotton pellets-induced granuloma formation, and hot plate test in rat. Arachic acid ethyl ester produced maximum inhibition at 50.0 mg/kg for carrageenan-induced paw edema (62.5%), xylene-induced ear edema (54.5%), cotton pellet-induced granuloma (47.4%), and increased mean latency for hot plate test in rats. These results show clearly that the arachic acid ethyl ester has acute and chronic anti-inflammatory properties as well as central analgesic properties. This justifies the use of propolis in the treatment of pain in traditional medicine.

This study was undertaken to evaluate the activities of water/ethanol Cola anomala pods extract. In vitro antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by the disk diffusion method; the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration were determined by agar dilution technique. In vivo, shigellosis was induced in healthy Wistar albino rats by oral administration of Shigella flexneri inoculum, 12 × 108 CFU/mL. At the onset of diarrhea, infected and normal control animals were subdivided into various groups treated with distilled water, with water/ethanol Cola anomala pods extract at 25, 50, or 100 mg/kg, or with ciprofloxacin, 2.5 mg/kg. After one-week treatment, rats were sacrificed, and blood and colon were collected. Blood was used for blood cell count. A portion of the colon served for histological studies while homogenate from the remaining part was centrifuged and the supernatant was collected for the determination of NO, PGE2, IL-1β, and TNF-α levels. In vitro, water/ethanol Cola anomala pods extract showed to be bactericidal, with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 2.0 mg/mL and a minimum bactericidal concentration of 3.0 mg/mL. In diarrheic rats, the extract significantly (P < 0.01) increased the white blood cells and significantly (P < 0.01) decreased stool Shigella density from the first to the seventh day of treatment. It partially restored the structure of eroded intestine epithelium and prevented weight loss; the dose dependently and significantly (P < 0.001) decreased NO, IL-1β, and TNF-α production in the colon and was found to have no significant effect on PGE2 production. These results support the use of this plant in traditional medicine in the treatment of gastrointestinal ailments.