Therapeutic Potentials of Ethanolic Extract of Leaves of Holarrhena Floribunda (G. Don) Dur. And Schinz (Apocynaceae)

Abstract

Background: Holarrhena floribunda is a plant of wide usage in the Togolese folk medicine. A previous ethnobotanical survey on the latex plants of the Maritime region of the country revealed that this plant was included in several recipes curing malaria and microbial infections. Therefore, this study aimed to seek for the effectiveness of the ethanolic extract of the plant in the treatment of these diseases. Methods: The antimicrobial test was performed using the agar well-diffusion and the NCCLS broth microdilution methods, while the in vivo antimalarial activity was evaluated following the four-day suppressive test of Peters. The acute toxic effects of the extract were monitored after a single oral dose (5,000 mg/kg body weight) administration in NMRI mice. Results:The results indicated that the ethanolic extract of leaves of H. floribunda was active on Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 and clinical strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and Klebsiella pneumoniae with MICs ranging from 0.62 to 1.25 mg/mL. The extract also showed significant parasitaemia suppression in a dose-dependent manner. In the acute toxicity assay, the oral administration of the extract to the mice did not affect the relative weight of vital organs, and there were no signs of toxicity or death during the study period. The LD 50 of the tested extract was found to be greater than 5,000 mg/kg, indicating its safety. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the antibacterial and antimalarial activities of leaves of H. floribunda and then, supports its medicinal use in the treatment of microbial infections.Key words: Holarrhena floribunda, ethanolic extract, antibacterial, antimalarial, toxicity. IntroductionHolarrhena floribunda (G. Don) T. Durand and Schinz, is a plant belonging to the family of Apocynaceae. It grows as a shrub or a tree. The plant is widely distributed in West Africa, where several parts of the plant are used for medicinal purposes (Yemoa et al., 2015). The stem-bark and leaves are used to treat various diseases including malaria, fever, dysentery, amoebic diseases, diarrhoea, sterility, amenorrhea and diabetes (Bouquet & Debray, 1974;Kerharo & Adam, 1974;Arbonnier, 2000;Fotie et al., 2006;Bayala et al., 2006). The roots are boiled in milk and used to bathe boys attaining puberty in addition to cure snakebites and venereal diseases (Iwu, 2014). In our previous study on the latex plant used in the maritime region of Togo, we found that the decoction of the plant was administrated by oral route for the treatment of malaria and bacterial infections (Hoekou et al., 2016).Some previous pharmacological screenings showed that, the stem bark of H. floribunda was febrifuge and could be a quinine substitute, since it showed remarkable inhibitory activity against drug-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum. The chemical screening of the plant revealed the presence of steroid alkaloids notably conessine, that is used for the destruction of amoeba without emetic effects (Berhaut, 1971;Fotie et al., 2006). The antioxida...

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