Abstract
Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate effect of dichloromethane (DCM) and methanol (MeOH) extracts of the leaf of Albizia schimperiana against Trypanosoma congolense using in vivo mice models. Methods: The leaf of the plant was extracted by maceration technique using DCM and absolute MeOH to obtain the corresponding crude extracts. The extracts were screened for secondary metabolites and anti-trypanosomal activity of the crude extracts was evaluated at doses of 50, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg in Swiss albino mice infected with T. congolense isolated from natural infection of cattle. The animals were monitored for test parameters including parasitemia, packed cell volume, rectal temperatures, body weight and survival. Results: The acute toxicity test showed that both solvent extracts were safe at doses of up to 2 g/kg. The methanol extract at 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg showed a statistically significant (p 0.05) reduction in parasitemia except 400 mg/kg dose. Conclusion: It can conclude that MeOH extract has promising activity against T. congolense in mice by reducing the levels of parasitemia and the activities may be due to presence of alkaloid, flavonoid and saponins which are responsible for anti-trypanosomal activity.
Highlights
Trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by flagellated protozoan belonging to the Genus Trypanosoma
Acute toxicity studies revealed the non-toxic nature of both solvent extracts of Albizia schimperiana leaf as where no death and gross behavioral changes recorded at a dose of 2000 mg/kg
The present study has established in vivo anti-trypanosomal activities of DCM and MeOH crude extracts of Albizia schimperiana leaf against T. congolense
Summary
Trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by flagellated protozoan belonging to the Genus Trypanosoma. African animal trypanosomiasis (AAT) is transmitted cyclically by tsetse flies (Glossina species) and mechanically by biting flies. Of the tsetse transmitted trypanosomes, three species namely T. congolense, T. vivax and T. brucei comprise the major disease agents that affect livestock [1]. T. vivax and T. evansi can be transmitted noncyclically by biting flies and their distribution is much wider (extending to Asia and Latin America) than for the cyclically transmitted trypanosomes [2]. The human infective parasites T. brucei gambiense and T. brucei rhodesiense are the causative agents of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), commonly known as sleeping sickness. A third group of trypanosome, T. cruzi, which is found mainly in Latin America, is a zoonotic infection which spread by blood-feeding triatomins [4]
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