RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: Anemia is a pathological condition characterized by reduced oxygen bioavailability and/or changes in hematological parameters. This study investigated the anti-anemic activities of Carica papaya (CP) phytoconstituents in aluminium-chloride-induced anemic rats. METHOD: Twenty-seven rats were randomized into nine groups of three rats as follows; group 1 was the normal (non-induced) group, 2-9 were anemic rats administered 1 mL distilled water, standard drug (3 mg/kg body weight (bw) ferrous sulphate), 100, 300 and 500 mg/kg bw of crude methanolic extract of CP (CMECP) of the leaf and 100, 300 and 500 mg/kg bw of CMECP of the seed respectively in the first stage of the study. In the second stage, thirty-three rats were randomized into eleven groups of three rats as follows; group 1 was the normal group, 2-11 were anemic rats treated with 1 mL distilled water, standard drug, 75 mg/kg bw, 150 mg/kg of alkaloid fraction of CP seed, 75 mg/kg bw, 150 mg/kg bw of flavonoid fraction of CP seed, 75 mg/kg bw and 150 mg/kg of alkaloid fraction of CP leaf, 75 mg/kg bw and 150 mg/kg bw of flavonoid fraction of CP leaf respectively. RESULTS: Treatment of anemic rats with CP extracts and fractions of the seed and leaf significantly reversed the hematological parameters and body weight of anemic rats in a dose independent fashion. The CMECP leaf at 100 and 500 mg/kg gave PCV of 42.50±0.50 and 47.00±0.50, while the seed gave 49.50±0.50 and 42.50±0.50 respectively after 2 weeks of treatment. However, the alkaloid and flavonoid fraction of CP presented better anti-anemic properties probably due to constituents' synergism. CONCLUSION: This study concluded that CP possesses phytoconstituents which potentiates it as a safe anti-anemic drug candidate.
RESUMEN
Malaria remains an overwhelming infectious disease with significant health challenges in African and other endemic countries globally. Resistance to antimalarial drugs has become one of the most momentous challenges to human health, and thus has necessitated the hunt for new and effective drugs. Consequently, few decades have witnessed a surfeit of research geared to validate the effectiveness of commonly used traditionally medicines against malaria fever. The present review work focuses on documenting natural products from African whose activity has been reported in vivo or in vitro against malaria parasite. Literature was collected using electronic search of published articles (Google Scholar, PubMed, Medline, Sciencedirect, and Science domain) that report on antiplasmodial activity of natural products from differernts Africa region. A total of 652 plant taxa from 146 families, 134 isolated antimalarial compounds from 39 plants species, 2 herbal formulations and 4 insect/products were found to be reported in literature from 1996 to 2015. Plants species from family Asteraceae (11.04%), Fababceae (8.128%), Euphorbiaceae (5.52%), Rubiaceas (5.52%), and Apocyanaceae (5.214%), have received more scientific validation than others. African natural products possess remarkable healing properties as revealed in the various citations as promising antimalarial agents. Some of these natural products from Africa demonstrate high, promising or low activities against Plasmodium parasite. This study also shows that natural products from Africa have a huge amount of novel antimalarial compounds that could serve as a leads for the development of new and effective antiplasmodial drugs. However, in a view of bridging the gap in knowledge, clinical validation of these natural products are of paramount importance.