Blighia sapida is a medicinal plant used in Southern Nigeria for the treatment of some eye ailments and headache. The Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine (CSRPM), Ghana, has used this plant for the treatment of diarrhea for over 20 years. Objective: This study was designed to investigate the lethal effect of aqueous, ethanol, and ethyl acetate extracts of the leaf of B. sapida on fourth instar larvae of An. gambiae, Cu. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti. Methods: The lethal effect of aqueous, ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts of the leaves of B. sapida at concentrations of 0.15, 0.30, 0.45, 0.60 and 0.75% w/v each were investigated in static bioassays on 4 th 15 instar larvae of An. gambiae, Cu. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti. Results: The 72hLC 50 values of the aqueous extract were 0.393, 0.488 and 0.423%w/v
The antimalarial activity of an ethanol leaf extract of Setaria megaphylla was studied in vivo in mice infected with Plasmodium berghei berghei during early and established infections. Setaria megaphylla (100-300 mg/kg/day) exhibited a significant (p < 0.05) blood schizonticidal activity in 4-day early infection and in established infection with a significant (p < 0.05) mean survival time comparable to that of the standard drug, chloroquine, 5 mg/kg/day. The leaf extract possesses a promising antiplasmodial activity in vivo which can be exploited in malaria therapy.
Background
This study evaluated the effect of Jatropha curcas seed oil against adult American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, a mechanical disease vector, using three bioassay methods to determine the repellent activity, contact and fumigant toxicity. This involved the use of J. curcas oil solution (diluted with acetone (20%)) and J. curcas pure oil. For repellency test, concentrations 0.30, 0.60 and 0.90% v/v were used for the oil solution while 1.0 and 2.0 ml concentrations were used for the pure oil. All test groups were exposed for 15 min. Contact toxicity test involved the use of 0.30, 0.60, 0.90, 1.20 and 1.50% v/v concentrations for the oil solution while 1 and 2 ml concentrations were used for the pure oil. Exposure period for all test groups was 24–120 h. For the fumigant test, 0.15% v/v and 0.5 ml concentrations were used for the oil solution and pure oil groups respectively; exposure period for the test groups was 24–120 h. All test and the control groups had ten cockroaches (P. americana) per group with four replicates.
Results
Repellency was higher in test groups treated with pure J. curcas oil than in groups treated with the oil solution with repellency of 70–100% and 60–100% respectively after 15 min exposure period. For the contact test, a higher mortality rate was observed with the oil solution than the pure oil. Mortality was lower for 1 ml of pure oil with 20% at 24 h and 40% at 120 h than 2 ml of pure oil with 30% mortality at 24 h and 50% mortality at 120 h. A 100% mortality was recorded in the highest concentration (1.50% v/v) at 120 h. Fumigation test with 0.15% v/v of oil solution resulted in 20% mortality at 120 h while fumigation test with 0.5 ml of J. curcas pure oil resulted in 60% mortality at 120 h.
Conclusion
J. curcas seed oil possesses repellent and insecticidal properties against P. americana . Thus, the menace caused by this mechanical disease vector could be reduced using J. curcas seed oil.
Termites are generally regarded as pests, although they have some beneficial roles to play in the ecosystem, particularly in the soil. This study was conducted between January 2018 and April 2018, to determine the effect of physico-chemical parametrs on abundance and diversity of termites and other arthropods in termite mounds in Uinversity of Uyo Community. Soil samples were randomly collected from six termite mounds from two sites for physiochemical parameters analysis and these were temperature, pH, moisture content, nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, sodium, potassium, manganese and iron.. The termites and other arthropods were preserved in 70% ethanol. Temperature and moisture content, copper, sodium and iron were significant. The results revealed that the physicochemical parameters affected the termite species abundance as station 1 (539) had relatively more of the termite species than station 2 (551), and also affected the diversity of the termites as station 1 (0.89) had relatively more diversity of the termites than station 2 (0.66). Also from the results, station 1 (2.06) had relatively more diversity of the other arthropod species identified in the study area than station 2 (1.59). Macrotermes bellicosus and Odontermes badius termite species were identified. Musca domestica, Anopheles gambiae, Lasius sp, Archispirostreptus sp, Camponotus sp, Missulena sp, Chorthippus sp, Acheta sp and Blatta orientalis were the other arthropods collected and identified. Macrotermes bellicosus (59.93 %; 63.52 %) was the most abundance and dorminant of the termite species identified in the study areas. Lasius sp (45; 25.93 %)
Introduction: Citrus aurantifolia (Christm) is a plant used for the treatment of various ailments including malaria. This study aimed to evaluate the in vivo antiplasmodial efficacy of methanol leaf extract of C. aurantifolia in Swiss albino mice. Methods: The median lethal dose (LD50) was determined by intraperitoneal administration of different doses of the extract (100–4000 mg/kg) to 6 groups of 3 mice each and the animals were observed for 24 hours for physical signs of toxicity. To evaluate the antiplasmodial activity of the extract, three models were used: suppressive, curative and repository. Doses of the extract used were 320, 640 and 960 mg/kg/d in mice, with Chloroquine (5 mg/kg/d) as standard drug. Pyrimethamine (1.2 mg/kg/d) was used as the standard drug for the repository test and distilled water (10 mL/kg/d) as control in all models. Results: In all models, the low dose (320 mg/kg) of the extract produced the highest chemosuppressive effects in all models (P < 0.001). Mice treated with extract lived longer than those in the control group (P < 0.001). Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins and cardiac glycosides and the LD50 of 3280 mg/kg ± 0.01 shows that the extract has low toxicity. Conclusion: The result of this study shows that C. aurantifolia has antiplasmodial properties which support its use in ethnomedicine in the treatment of malaria.
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