Background:Aristolochic Acids (AAs) are major components of plants in Aristolochia and have been found to be nephrotoxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic. Herein reported are the isolation, identification and quantity determination methods of Aristolochic Acid-I (AA-I) and Aristolochic Acid-II (AA-II) toxic compounds of Aristolochia bracteolata indigenous to Central Sudan and medicinally used in diverse biological functions including analgesic and diuretic effects, treatment of tumors, malaria and/or fevers.Methods and results:AAs mixture was extracted with methanol from the defatted material of Aristolochia bracteolata whole plant at room temperature and was isolated from the aqueous methanol extract by chloroform. Moreover, Silica-gel column chromatography and Preparative Thin Layer Chromatography (PTLC) using chloroform/methanol gradient mixtures were used to isolate AAs mixtures as a yellow crystalline solid. A preliminary detection of AAs was made by Thin Layer Chromatography (silica-gel, chloroform: methanol (6:1)). The Rf value of the acids mixture was 0.43–0.46. The presence of AAs in plant sample was confirmed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography/Ultraviolet (HPLC/UV) analysis using 1% acetic acid and methanol (40:60) as mobile phase and maximum absorption wave length of 250 nm. Quantitative determination of AA-II (49.03 g/kg) and AA-I (12.98 g/kg) was also achieved by HPLC/UV.Recommendation:It is recommended that the use of Aristolochia bracteolata as a medicinal plant should be extremely limited or strictly prohibited. The chromatograms obtained in this study can serve as fingerprints to identify AAs in plant samples.

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Background: Epilepsy has affected over sixty million people around the globe. Traditionally, communities have opted for complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) to help in the treatment of epilepsy which has worked for them and with minimal side effects. Methodology: A literature search was conducted from PubMed, Science Direct, Elsevier, Google Scholar, and many other sites that had studied on traditional approaches and medicinal plants which have been used commonly in west and east African communities and whose anticonvulsant or antiepileptic activities have been experimentally studied. Results: A total number of five traditional approaches for healing and nineteen medicinal plants were identified as the most commonly used by communities in west and east Africa, based on the literature which was available in ethnobotanical surveys and had experimental studies on anticonvulsant or antiepileptic conducted. Conclusion: In this study, twenty-four traditional approaches and medicinal plants were found in west and east Africa for the treatment of epilepsy. Further study on the phytoconstituents present in the medicinal plants should be carried out to isolate the active principles and to prove their pharmacological activities. Inclusion of the other well approved healing approaches and techniques recommended in epilepsy treatment in health settings.

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