Sickle cell disease remains a major public health problem in Burkina Faso and Africa. For the management of this pathology in young children, the Institute for Research in Health Sciences has developed an herbal drug called FACA® syrup. The objective of this study was to verify the safety and pharmacological efficacy of this formulation for its use in the management of sickle cell disease. Acute and subacute oral toxicity tests were performed on Wistar rats in accordance with Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development test guidelines and anti-sickling activity of FACA® syrup was evaluated according to the Emmel test. In the acute test, FACA® syrup didn’t cause mortality or any behavioral change at dose of 2000 mg/kg/b.w suggesting that the test product estimated LD50 is 5000 mg/kg b.w. The results of subacute toxicity study indicate that the daily administration of FACA® syrup during 28 days did not result in significant change on physical, haematological and biochemical parameters up to dose of 1000 mg/kg b.w. The evaluation of effect of FACA® syrup in vitro on sickling revealed that, FACA® syrup possesses a real antisickling activity. Regarding these results FACA® syrup would be considered as safe in both acute and subacute exposure and could be used in the management of sickle cell diseases. Keywords: FACA® syrup, oral toxicity, sickle cell anemia, Antisickling activity

Neptunia oleracea (Lourd.) Mimosaceae is a plant commonly used in traditional medicine for the treatment of several pathologies such as dysentery, jaundice, leucorrhoea, troubles of earache, among others. Aim: The purpose of this study was to carry out preliminary phytochemical screening, acute toxicity studies and to evaluate the effect of the aqueous and hydro-ethanolic extracts of N. oleracea on intestinal motility in vivo. Methodology: Preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening was conducted using standard procedures while acute toxicity studies was performed using OECD method. The effect of N. oleracea extracts on intestinal motility was evaluated using on normal and acetylcholine-induced transits. Results: Preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening of aqueous and hydro-ethanolic extracts of N. oleracea revealed the presence of similar constituents including steroids, triterpenoids, saponins, tannins, flavonoids, anthocyanidins, coumarins and carbohydrates. Alkaloids was absent in both the extracts. The oral median lethal dose (LD50) for both extracts was estimated to be 5000 mg/kg. The effect of extracts on intestinal peristalsis in mice showed that the aqueous and hydro-ethanolic extracts of N. oleracea stimulate normal intestinal transit by 1.29 and 8.54% respectively at the dose of 50 mg/kg body weight, thus there was inhibition at higher doses. These extracts potentiate acetylcholine-induced intestinal transit by 23.9 and 14.39% respectively at 500 mg/kg body weight. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the aqueous and hydro-ethanolic extracts of Neptunia oleracea contain bioactive constituents that have practically no toxic effect. This could justify the many forms of use of this plant in traditional medicine.