BIOLOGICAL SCREE IG OF KE YA MEDICI AL PLA TS USI G ARTEMIA SALI A L.(ARTEMIIDAE)
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Date
2013Author
Nguta, JM
Mbaria, JM
Gakuya, DW
Gathumbi, PK
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Medicinal plants constitute important components of
flora and are widely distributed in different
regions of Kenya. Based on ethnopharmacological sig
nificance, we collected several medicinal
plants from South Coast, Kenya used in traditional
medicine to treat malaria and evaluated for
their toxicity. In the present study, brine shrimp
(
Artemia salina
) test was used to screen
antimalarial plants for their cytotoxicity. A total
of 80 crude extracts from 30 plant species
distributed among 18 plant families were evaluated
for their toxicity against
Artemia salina
.
Cytotoxicity results showed that 23 (57.5%) of orga
nic and 7 (17.5%) of aqueous extracts
showed significant toxicity to the brine shrimp (LC
50
< 100 ;g/ml). Organic extracts obtained
from the leaves of
Momordica foetida
Schumach. (Cucurbitaceae), stem bark of
Warbugia
stuhlmannii
Engl. (Canallaceae) and the root bark of
Zanthoxylum chalybeum
(Eng) Engl.
(Rutaceae) exhibited potent activity with LC
50
values of 8, 8 and 11 μg/ml respectively. The
toxicity data obtained suggest that some of these p
lants would not make good malaria treatments,
suggesting a need for further
in vivo
toxicological studies. The present study could be
useful in
the search for new antitumor compounds from the Ken
yan flora
URI
http://pharmacologyonline.silae.it/files/archives/2011/vol2/045.nguta.pdfhttp://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/51272
Citation
Nguta, J. M., Mbaria, J. M., Gakuya, D. W., Gathumbi, P. K., Kabasa, J. D., & Kiama, S. G. BIOLOGICAL SCREE IG OF KE YA MEDICI AL PLA TS USI G ARTEMIA SALI A L.(ARTEMIIDAE).2013Publisher
University of Nairobi, college of agriculture and veterinary sciences,