Evaluation of In vivo and In vitro Screening of the Antitrypanosomal Properties of Methanol Leaf Extract and Fractions of Trichilia heudelotii Oliv. (Meliaceae)

Izuchukwu F. Okpalanwaka, Ifeyinwa C. Adaka ⃰, Philip F. Uzor, Ngozi J. Nwodo

Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka 410001 Enugu, Nigeria

Corresponding Author: Ifeyinwa.adaka@unn.edu.ng; Tel: +2347032291313

Recieved Date: October 07, 2020; Accepted Date: December 21, 2020; Published Date: 02 January 2021

Citation: Okpalanwaka IF, Adaka IC, Uzor PF, Nwodo NJ. Evaluation of In vivo and In vitro Screening of the Antitrypanosomal Properties of Methanol Leaf Extract of Trichilia heudelotii Oliv. (Meliaceae). Trop J Nat Prod Res. 2020; 4(12): 1196-1200.  https://doi.org/10.26538/tjnpr/v4i12.28

Copyright: © 2020 Okpalanwaka et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

ABSTRACT

Trypanosomiasis is a serious parasitic disease with high morbidity and mortality particularly in the tropics. Trichilia heudelotii Oliv. (Meliaceae) is an important medicinal plant used widely in ethno medicine in treatment of wound sores, gastro-intestinal complaints, dizziness and parasitic diseases. This study evaluated the antitrypanosomal potentials of methanol extract of T. heudelotii using Swiss mice. The antitrypanosomal activity of the methanol extract of T. heudelotii leaf (METH) was investigated using rapid matching method in mice. Cytotoxicity and in vitro antitrypanosomal test were also done using the extract and fractions. Phytochemical screening was done using standard procedures. The extract (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg), diminazene aceturate as positive control (3.5 mg/kg) were administered in the mice. The extract showed dose-dependent inhibition on percentage parasitemia. There was significant (P ? 0.05) reduction in the parasitemia at all administered doses. METH exhibited significant (P ? 0.05) increase in packed cell volume (PCV) at 400 mg/kg similar to diminazene aceturate. There was also a significant (P ? 0.05) increase in body weight at (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) when compared to the control. In the in vitro study the n-hexane fraction revealed the highest IC₅₀ (2.88 µg/mL) while dichloromethane fraction has the highest selectivity (13.84).  Phytoconstituents present include alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, tannins, flavonoids and carbohydrates.  The results revealed that the extract possess antitrypanosomal activity in Swiss mice and this justifies the folkloric use of T. heudelotti leaves in the treatment of African trypanosomiasis.