Chenopodium ambrosioides Linn. (Chenopdiaceae) and Mitracarpus scaber Zucc. (Rubiaceae) are herbal medicinal plants. They are commonly used in Togolese folk medicine to treat skin infections such as infected wounds, dermatoses, and scabies. The aim of this work was to evaluate the wound healing and antimicrobial properties of the two plants. Firstly, we evaluated the infected wound healing property of the two plants. We induced and treated infected wound in Wistar rats as follows. We inserted a sterile needle under the skin of the animal previously anesthetized by ether. Along the needle, we made an incision of 2 cm of length. The wound was infected with 24 hours colonies of P.aeruginosa. One infected wound was created per animal. 0.5 g of ointments prepared form C. ambrosioides and M. scaber leaf extracts, was applied twice a day. Secondly, we conducted antimicrobial assays with extracts prepared with the leaves of the plants. Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albcans, Escherichia coli and Salmonella sp. were used in this study. Infected wound in control group healed in 12.6±0.245 days. The ointment from C. ambrosioides or M. scaber leaf extracts, significantly and respectively reduced this mean time to 07.04±0.245 (P<0.01) and 06.4±0.245 (P<0.01) days. The extracts showed antimicrobial activities against all tested strains. C. ambrosioides and M. scaber possess wound healing and antimicrobial properties. These findings support their traditional use in treatment of skin infections.

Kigelia africana is traditionally used in Togo to control epileptic seizures. We undertook this study in order to evaluate its anticonvulsive properties. We pretreated Wistar albino rats of both sexes with the hydroethanolic extract (v: v) of the leaf of K. africana at 250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg of body weight. This pretreatment was done one hour prior to the administration of the convulsive drugs. We induced convulsions by administration (i.p) of strychnine, picrotoxin (PTX) or pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) respectively at 3 mg/kg, 6 mg/kg and 75 mg/kg. In the pentylenetetrazol's model, the above protocol was conducted both in male and in female groups of rats. We registered the latency and duration of generalized tonic-clonic convulsions in all models. The Incidence rates of the generalized convulsions in all models were decreased. Furthermore, the extract increased the survival rates of the rats in all model used in this study. The extract either at 250 mg/kg or 500 mg/kg significantly increased the latency of the onset of generalized tonic-clonic convulsions. Duration of the convulsions was significantly decreased in all models except for the picrotoxin-induced seizure's one. In the PTZ model, the extract was more active in female rat. The extract decreased the incidence rate, prolonged the mean latency and shortened the mean duration of the generalized convulsions induced with PTX, strychnine and PTZ. The leaf of K. africana possesses anticonvulsive properties. This partially explains its traditional use in epileptic conditions.