Malaria is one of the major health problems in developing countries. The disease kills a large number of people every year and also affects financial status of many countries. Resistance of the plasmodium parasite, the causative agent, to the existing drugs, including chloroquine, mefloquine, and artemisinin based combination therapy (ACT), is a serious global issue in malaria treatment and control. This warrants an urgent quest for novel compounds, particularly from natural sources such as medicinal plants. Alkaloids have over the years been recognized as important phytoconstituents with interesting biological properties. In fact, the first successful antimalarial drug was quinine, an alkaloid, which was extracted from Cinchona tree. In the present review work, the alkaloids isolated and reported recently (2013 till 2019) to possess antimalarial activity are presented. Several classes of alkaloids, including terpenoidal, indole, bisindole, quinolone, and isoquinoline alkaloids, were identified with a promising antimalarial activity. It is hoped that the reports of the review work will spur further research into the structural modification and/or development of the interesting compounds as novel antimalarial drugs.

Anti-inflammatory activity study involves developing a model that mimics, or provokes the production or release of, the biochemical mediators of inflammation, and monitoring the response of these biochemicals to the test drugs. This report constitutes an updated review of the in vitro and in vivo study models for assessing anti-inflammatory activity in plant extracts and synthetic drugs. The materials, instrumentation, and methods involved, as well as the mechanism of anti-inflammatory activity tested in each model, are extensively described. The merits and limitations of each method have also been discussed. A comparative assessment of the in vivo animal models vis-à-vis, the in vitro enzyme models have been made to assist scientists and researchers in the choice of assay method in terms of sensitivity, reliability, duration of test, ethical, and cost considerations.

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Purpose: To evaluate the antimalarial effect of Ananas comosus extract and fractions and also to identify the likely bioactive compounds.Method: The fruit peel of the plant was extracted with methanol, and the extract successively fractionated with n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, methanol and water. The n-hexane fraction was further subjected to vacuum liquid chromatography to afford four sub-fractions, one of which was also analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). Plasmodium berghei-infected mice were treated orally with three doses (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) of the plant extract and a single dose (200 mg/kg) of each of the fractions and sub-fractions in a curative antimalarial model using artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) as the reference drug.Results: The extract exhibited significant (p < 0.001) non-dose dependent parasitemia inhibitory activity in the range of 44.84 to 76.09 %. All fractions displayed inhibitory effect (p < 0.001) in the range of 46.44 to 87.58 % with the dichloromethane fraction displaying the highest effect (87.58 %). The subfractions exhibited significant inhibitory effect (p < 0.001) in the range of 84.14 to 92.54 %. The ACT produced significant (p < 0.001) inhibitory effect of 83.92 %. GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of 17 bioactive compounds, the most abundant of which were linoleic acid and palmitic acid.Conclusion: A. comosus displays strong antimalarial activity which supports the folkloric use of the plant for malarial treatment. A polyunsaturated fatty acid (linoleic acid) was the most abundant phytoconstituent identified. Keywords: Ananas comosus, Antimalarial, Malaria, Pineapple, Plasmodium beighei

In the present study, the antimalarial activity of the extracts and fractions of the leaves of Persea americana and Dacryodes edulis as well as their phytochemical compositions were examined. Each of the extracts of the plants was successively fractionated to obtain hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol, and water fractions. The extracts and fractions were tested against Plasmodium berghei in both curative and suppressive antimalarial mouse models. Their major phytochemical composition was studied by the standard chemical tests and HPLC analysis. The extracts and fractions of P. americana and D. edulis demonstrated significant ( p < 0.05 ) maximal plasmodial inhibition as 52.16 ± 2.77% and 57.10 ± 1.98%, respectively, and chemosuppression of parasitemia as 64.01 ± 0.08% and 71.99 ± 0.06%, respectively. The major secondary metabolites identified in the plants include alkaloids, flavonoids, and saponins. It was concluded that P. americana and D. edulis possess promising antimalarial activity and they are potential sources of new lead compounds against malaria.

The rate of psychoactive substance (PAS) use in the adolescent group is increasing around the world. Drug abuse has a negative impact on students’ education especially that of secondary school students. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of psychoactive substance use and knowledge of the health consequences among secondary school students in Ogun State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study was carried out among 528 consenting students selected using random sampling method. Data obtained using a validated modified World Health Organization’s guidelines questionnaire were analyzed with SPSS 20, p-Value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Majority (78.8%) were within the age group 15-18 years, males were 61.4%. Alcohol (95.0%) ranked first of all the substances been consumed among the current PAS users. Age was highly significantly associated with PAS use. Average knowledge of health consequences of PAS use was 11.5%. There is need for continuous health educational intervention to boost the respondents’ knowledge about health consequences of uses of psychoactive substances. Dhaka Univ. J. Pharm. Sci. 19(2): 199-205, 2020 (December)

Diabetes mellitus remains a global health challenge and herbal medicines are known to be effective and safe for use in its management. Anthocleista nobilis is used in the traditional management of the disorder but this claimed use has not been validated. The present study was designed to establish and hence validate the use of the plant for the management of diabetes and also identify the bioactive phytoconstituents of the plant. The root and stem bark extracts of the plant were investigated for antidiabetic activity in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. The animals were treated orally with 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg bw of both extracts for seven days. The fasting blood glucose concentration (FBGC) of the animals was monitored for seven days with a glucometer. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometric (UHPLC/ESI-QTOF-MS) technique was adopted for partial dereplication of secondary metabolites of the plant. The extracts significantly (p < 0.5) reduced the FBGC of the diabetic animals. Nine previously reported compounds in the genus Anthocleista were successfully dereplicated from the plant and identified to be scopoletin (1), anthocleistol (2), sweroside (3), djalonesone (4), fagaramide (5), lanosta-7, 24-dien-3-one (6), 1-hydroxy-3,7-dimethoxyxanthene (7), djalonensin (8) and secologanin (9). Numerous other prominent peaks were not identified and could be potential novel compounds. The traditional use of A. nobilis in the management of diabetes has been validated in the present study. The identified as well as the unidentified compounds could provide template for guided isolation of the antidiabetic and other bioactive constituents of the plant.