In iVitro/iAnthelmintic Activity of Leaf Extracts of iCelosia/ilaxa Schum. Thonn

摘要

Background: style="font-family:;" "=""> Celosia laxa (Amaranthaceae) is mainly a west African plant species used in Traditional Medicine as an anthelmintic, anticancer, antibacterial and analgesic agent. The seeming prevalence of worm infection in Gwandu style="font-family:;" "="">community of Gwandu Local Government Area of Kebbi State-Nigeria style="font-family:;" "=""> prompted this study. Methods: Whole plant of C. laxa extracts obtained through maceration in aqueous (AE), methanol (ME) and hexane (HE) solvents were investi style="font-family:;" "="">gated for their anthelmintic activity against Indian earthworms (Pheretima posthuman) at four different (gradient) concentrations of 10, 20, 40 and 80 (mg/ml) for each extract. The study involved the determination of time of paralysis (P) and time of death (D) of the worms. Results: Both the aqueous and ethanolic extracts exhibited significant anthelmintic activity at the highest concentration of 80 mg/ml as compared to the standard drug, praziquantel (10 style="font-family:;" "=""> style="font-family:;" "="">mg/ml). Consequently, the aqueous extract showed a higher activity at 80 style="font-family:;" "=""> style="font-family:;" "="">mg/ml compared to standard praziquantel at 10 style="font-family:;" "=""> style="font-family:;" "="">mg/ml (with no significant value of p style="font-family:;" "=""> style="font-family:;" "="">span style="font-family:;" "=""> style="font-family:;" "="">0.05). The time of paralysis and death observed for AE was 13.0 ± 1.8 and 16.8 ± 1.5 while the ME was less bioactive with 15.7 ± 0.5 and 23.0 ± 0.0 respectively. However, on the other hand, the hexane extract recorded no-activity on all the test style="font-family:;" "=""> style="font-family:;" "="">sample concentrations, compared style="font-family:;" "=""> to style="font-family:;" "="">the standard drug (with a significant difference of p-value, p style="font-family:;" "=""> style="font-family:;" "="" style="font-family:;" "=""> style="font-family:;" "="">0.05). Conclusion: It was concluded that the leaves of C. laxa style="font-family:;" "="">are style="font-family:;" "=""> likely to yield a potent anthelminthic drug owing to soluble phytoconstituent which are largely hydrophilicity extracted by the polar solvents. Also, considering that the plants’ mode of preparation for use by the locals was aqueous decoction before administration, the folkloric therapeutic claims can be said to have been justified.