Plants in Kano Ethnomedicine; Screening for Antimicrobial Activity and Alkaloids

Pharmacological evidence favouring the use of Nauclea latifolia in malaria ethnopharmacy: Effects against nociception, inflammation, and pyrexia in rats and mice

“…Studies in various labs including ours on the phytochemical properties of the plant revealed the presence of monoterpene, triterpene, indole alkaloid, saponins and traces of inorganic compounds in the roots, constituents that are known to exert diverse pharmacological actions such as analgesic, central nervous system and cardiovascular effects (Brown et al, 1979;Hussain and Deeni, 1991;Pereira, 1998, 2001). Overall, the findings we reported in this study show that the aqueous extracts of Nauclea latifolia possess constituents with pharmacological activities that are useful for the symptomatic management of malaria and for the treatment of other disease conditions that clinically presents with inflammation and pain.…”

“…For instance, the cardiovascular, spasmolytic, anti-plasmodial and anti-parasitic effects have been reported in studies that used various lab models (Ogunlana and Ramstad, 1975;Madubunyi, 1995;Morah, 1995;Benoit-Vical et al, 1998;Udoh and Lot, 1998;Abreu et al, 1999;Marshall et al, 2000;Gamaniel et al, 1997). Phytochemical investigation of the plant revealed the presence of monoterpene, triterpene, indole alkaloid, saponins and traces of inorganic compounds in the roots (Brown et al, 1979;Hussain and Deeni, 1991;Pereira, 1998, 2001). Previous studies in our laboratory provided evidence for possible sedative activities of Nauclea latifolia (Amos et al, 2005).…”

Anti-fungal and anti-bacterial activity of some herbal remedies from Tanzania

“…Results of these investigations are reported for: (i) Cineraria grandiflora: sesquiterpenes and acetylenic compounds (Bohlmann and Abraham, 1978); polyacetylenic compounds (Bohlmann and Zdero, 1983); acetylenic compounds (Lehmann et al, 1988), (ii) Clutia abyssinica: macrocyclic diterpenes (Aylward et al, 2001a,b;Aylward and Parsons, 2002); coumarins (Waigh et al, 1991); diterpenes (Waigh et al, 1990); antiplasmodial activity of lipophilic extracts (Kraft et al, 2003), (iii) Coccinia adoensis: antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic potential (Kusamran et al, 1998), (iv) Marattia fraxinea: flavonoids (Voirin, 1970), (v) Pavonia urens: antifungal properties (Dayal and Purohit, 1971), and (vi) Vangueria infausta: anthelmintic action (Teichler, 1935); antiplasmodial activity (Nundkumar and Ojewole, 2002). The other plants with medicinal uses (Table 1), or relatives to these, have also been previously studied although not always for the same applications (van Puyvelde et al, 1980;Hussain and Deeni, 1991;Desta, 1993;Taniguchi and Kubo, 1993;Ndounga et al, 1994;Vlietinck et al, 1995;Hamill et al, 2000Hamill et al, , 2003. Additionally, the toxicity of some of the extracts/active ingredients was tested in a range of animal systems, which revealed that most of them had diverse side effects and toxic doses varied greatly (Fernando and Fernando, 1990;Vanhaelen et al, 1994;Igile et al, 1995).…”

Assessment of the Antimicrobial Potency of Leaf Extracts from Vitex Nugundo and Gloriosa Superba

“…Antagonism among herbs should be further studied to assist traditional herbalists who always combine them in treatment. [34,35] The combination of the extracts of the two plants revealed that the effect of V. nugundo (VN) on E. coli and S. typhi was completely antagonized (or masked) by that of G. superba (GS), the effect of which remained the same as it was when uncombined. However, the combination produced an enhanced (or additive) effect on S. aureus and C. albicans.…”