Alchornea cordifolia (Euphorbiaceae) is widely used in Africa for the treatment of malaria, fever, tooth decay, leprosy, amoebic dysentery, hemorrhoids, headaches, venereal diseases and inflammation. It is also used as emmenagogue and oxytocic. Quassia africana (Simaroubaceae) is also widely used in Africa for the treatment of malaria, gastritis, intestinal worms, rheumatism, bronchopneumonia, gonorrhea, headache, tooth decay and tonsillitis. The present study aims to highlight the analgesic and antipyretic effects of both plants. Fever was induced by oral administration of 20 ml / kg of 20% beer yeast in rats 24 hours before treatment. The rectal temperature was measured 1h, 2h and 3h after treatment. The pain was induced by intraperitoneal injection of 0.1 ml / 10 g of 0.6% acetic acid in rats 1 hour after oral treatment. The analgesic activity was assessed for 10 minutes by counting the number of cramps. The aqueous, ethanolic and dichloromethane extracts of the leaves and fruits of Alchornea cordifolia at 400 and 800 mg / kg per os showed a very significant antipyretic effect identical to paracetamol at 100 mg / kg per os. The aqueous extracts of the leaves and fruits of Alchornea cordifolia as well as barks of Quassia africana at 400 and 800 mg / kg per os showed a very significant analgesic effect. These effects are related to the presence of alkaloids and terpenes for Alchornea cordifolia and Quassinoides for Quassia africana.

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the anticonvulsant and antidepressant effects of Ascotheca paucinervia leaves on mice by using strychnine at 2.5mg/kg to induce convulsions and the forced swimming test to create a stressful situation, respectively. Concerning convulsions, only the 500mg/kg extract significantly increases (p<0.001) the time to onset of convulsions and it non-significantly reduces the duration of convulsions induced by strychnine. In addition, the extract reduces very significantly in a dose-dependent manner the time of immobility and it significantly increases the swimming time as well as the climbing time at both doses. At the same time, the estimation of the acute toxicity of the extract from the leaves of Ascotheca paucinervia according to guideline No. 425 of the OECD (2022) shows that the latter is weakly toxic and its LD50 is greater than 5000mg/kg. In addition, the evaluation of the sedative effect of this extract shows that it produces a dose-dependent sedative effects and at doses of 250m/kg and 500mg/kg, the extract significantly potentiates the sleep induced by phenobarbital. In summary, the results obtained suggest that Ascotheca paucineervia leaves extract possesses anticonvulsant and antidepressant effects.

Epilepsy is a disorder in the nervous system which often causes a loss of consciousness. Traditional treatments are quiet a component of health care system in various populations in spite of the fact that well-established options are available. Most plants are used to treat epilepsy or those which have been verified for anticonvulsant activity were reported. Then, Costus afer is a plant of the Congolese flora used in traditional medicine for its many virtues.Therefore, the anticonvulsant activity of Costus afer was assessed with the strychnine convulsion induction test. Two tests were used for sedative activity such as the barbiturate sleep induction test and motor activity and finally the forced swimming test was also used to assess antidepressant activity. The results showed that the aqueous extract of Costus afer stems had no effects on strychnine-induced seizures at doses of 250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg compared to the control group. However, the extract of Costus afer stems caused a very significant decrease in motricity at a dose of 500 mg/kg, showing a decrease in the onset time and a very significant increase in sleep duration like the reference molecule such as Diazepam. The aqueous extract of Costus afer stems also caused a decrease in immobility time in mice at a dose of 500 mg/kg.

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