Abstract
BackgroundAfrican trypanosomiasis is a major disease of economic and public health importance affecting agricultural and human development. The search for alternative compounds against African trypanosomiasis is justified by various limitations of existing chemotherapeutic agents. This study was aimed at screening the hydromethanolic and dichloromethane (DCM) crude extracts of aerial parts of Artemisia abyssinica for in vivo antitrypanosomal activity against Trypanosoma congolense isolate in mice.MethodsThe aerial parts of the plant were extracted by maceration technique using dichloromethane and 80% methanol to obtain the corresponding crude extracts. The plant extracts at doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight were administered intraperitoneally daily for 7 days to mice infected with Trypanosoma congolense. Diminazene aceturate and distilled water were used as positive and as negative controls respectively. The level of parasitaemia, body weight, packed cell volume, differential leukocyte counts and mean survival period were monitored.ResultsThe study showed that the DCM extract at 200 and 400 mg/kg, and the hydromethanolic extract at 400 mg/kg reduced parasitaemia (p < 0.05), ameliorated anaemia (p < 0.05), prevented body weight loss (p < 0.05) and resulted in significant increase in neutrophil levels (p < 0.05) and marked decrease in lymphocyte levels (p < 0.05) compared to the negative control.ConclusionsThis study established that aerial parts of A. abyssinica have antitrypanosomal potential and can be considered a potential source of new drugs for the treatment of tropical diseases caused by trypanosomes.
Highlights
African trypanosomiasis is a major disease of economic and public health importance affecting agricultural and human development
Human trypanosomiasis is caused by two subspecies of Trypanosoma brucei: T. brucei gambiense, and T. brucei rhodesiense while African animal trypanosomiasis is a group of diseases of ruminants, camels, equines, swine and carnivores caused by different trypanosome species [1,2,3]
The best results were obtained with DCM extract at an optimum dose of 400 mg/kg (Table 1) which was less effective compared with 28 mg/kg of standard drug
Summary
African trypanosomiasis is a major disease of economic and public health importance affecting agricultural and human development. This study was aimed at screening the hydromethanolic and dichloromethane (DCM) crude extracts of aerial parts of Artemisia abyssinica for in vivo antitrypanosomal activity against Trypanosoma congolense isolate in mice. There is a need for the development of new agents to complement the existing drugs for the treatment of African trypanosomiasis. Our former report [14] shows significant in vitro antitrypanosomal activity of crude extracts of aerial parts of the plant against T. congolense. This study was aimed to evaluate the in vivo antitrypanosomal activity of crude extracts of aerial parts of the plant against field isolate of T. congolense in mice models of infection
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