Phytochemical screening and cytotoxicity of selected plants used as anthelmintics in Loitoktok sub-county, Kenya
Date
2016Author
Muthee, J.K
Gakuya, D.W
Mbaria, J.M
Mule, C.M
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The practice of traditional medicine is as old as the human race, and plants are an important source of research
and development of new drugs. Anthelmintic resistance in human and animal pathogenic
helminthes
has been
spreading in prevalence and severity t
o a point where there is multi
-
drug resistance against the three major
classes of anthelmintics. It has become a global phenomenon in gastrointestinal nematodes of farm animals,
and
hence the need for novel anthelmintic products. The objectives of this stu
dy were to carry out
phytochemical screening and determine bioactivity of plants which are commonly used in the treatment and
control of helminthosis in LoitoktokSub
-
Countyof Kenya. The plant species (Albiziaanthelmintica,
Myrsineafricana, Embeliaschimperi
and Rapaneamelanophloeos) were selected based on their
ethnopharmacological uses, as anthelmintics, by the traditional health practitioners.
Phytochemical
were
screened in aqueous and organic extracts using standard methods and cytotoxicity determined usi
ng the Brine
shrim
p lethality test. Phytochemical
detected in the extracts were, anthraquinones, flavonoids, glycosides,
saponins, steroids, tannins and triterpenoids. Organic extracts were generally more cytotoxic than the aqueous
extracts with median let
hal dose (LC
50
) of 11 to 581 μg/ml. and 149 to 1000 μg/ml respectively. It was
concluded that some of the plants used as anthelmintic remedies in Loitoktok contain different types of
phytochemical
which could be responsible for their cytotoxicity and anthelmintic properties. Further studies
may be necessary to assess their potential as anthelmintics for possible drug development.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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