Milicia excelsa (Moraceae) plant is used as an antidiarrheal agent in ethnomedicine but there is no scientific rationale for its claim. Hence, this study examined the acute toxicity (LD50) and anti-diarrheal effect of methanol root bark extract of Milicia excelsa per oral in rats as well as the probable phytoconstituents responsible for this effect. The LD50 was>5000 mg/kg, suggesting its safety. The extract significantly (p<0.05) reduced the total number of feces and wet feces in castor oil-induced diarrhea with percentage inhibitions of 41.36 and 50.88% at 200 and 400 mg/kg respectively; it also significantly (p<0.05) reduced the distance travelled by charcoal in a dose dependent manner with percentage inhibitions of 33.85, 43.07 and 50.76% at 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg respectively in gastrointestinal motility test indicating anti-diarrheal potentials. The extract significantly (p<0.05) reduced the intestinal fluid accumulation with percentage inhibitions of 33.28 and 45.61% at 200 and 400 mg/kg respectively, suggesting antisecretory effect. Furthermore, the extract significantly (p<0.05) inhibited the intestinal propulsion of the charcoal meal through the gastrointestinal tract in castor oil-induced gastrointestinal transit suggesting antimotility effect. Total flavonoids and tannins are the most abundant phytoconstituents therein. This study therefore concluded that the anti-diarrhea action of the extract may at least in part be mediated via antisecretory and antimotility mechanisms, which could be due to the additive, synergy or counter interaction of the phytoconstituents therein, thus supporting its ethnomedicinal claim.
Hymenocardia acida (H. acida) is an African well-known shrub recognized for numerous medicinal properties, including its cancer management potential. The advent of nanotechnology in delivering bioactive medicinal plant extract with poor solubility has improved the drug delivery system, for a better therapeutic value of several drugs from natural origins. This study aimed to evaluate the anticancer properties of H. acida using human lung (H460), breast (MCF-7), and colon (HCT 116) cancer cell lines as well as the production, characterization, and cytotoxicity study of H. acida loaded into PLGA nanoparticles. Benchtop models of Saccharomyce cerevisiae and Raniceps ranninus were used for preliminary toxicity evaluation. Notable cytotoxic activity in benchtop models and human cancer cell lines was observed for H. acida crude extract. The PLGA nanoparticles loading H. acida had a size of about 200 nm and an association efficiency of above 60%, making them suitable to be delivered by different routes. The outcomes from this research showed that H. acida has anticancer activity as claimed from an ethnomedical point of view; however, a loss in activity was noted upon encapsulation, due to the sustained release of the drug.
Tectona grandis L. f. (Lamiaceae) is famous for timber production and has been used in traditional medicine for treating bronchitis, liver-related roubles, urinary discharge amongst other diseases. Methanol extract of the stem bark was investigated for in vivo antiophidian assay against Bitis arietans and Naja nigricollis. Also, the extract and chromatographic fractions were subjected to cytotoxicity tests using tadpole model and antiarthritic assay by proteinase inhibition. Chromatography of crude methanol extract afforded three highly polar vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) fractions (BVLC-1, BVLC-2 and BVLC-3). BVLC-2 further gave four semi-pure uncharacterized isolates (I, II, III, IV). Only BVLC-2 and BVLC-3 were cytotoxic at 10 - 80 mg/ml, with BVLC-3 being most potent (100% mortality, LC50 40 mg/ml). Concentration-dependent proteinase enzyme inhibition (24 - 71%) at 200 - 1000 μg/ml of BVLC-2 was observed, and this was less (IC50 659.24 μg/ml) than the activity of the standard drug, acetyl salicylic acid. However, neutralization of B. arietans and N. nigricollis snake venoms using methanol extract was not dose-dependent, but the extract atthe least dose, 50 mg/kg offered better protection (75%) on Naja nigricollis envenomed-mice in 48 h. Its activity was comparable to that of the positive antivenin tested at 0.2 mg/kg. These findings justify the folkloric use of T. grandis in the treatment of snake bites, arthritic conditions, and oxidative stress-induced diseases.
Keywords: Tectona grandis, methanol extract, anti-snake venom activity, tadpole cytotoxicity, anti-arthritic activity
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