Author(s):

Auta Richard, Waziri M Peter, Efe M Omwirhiren, Mercy Richard and Charles Luke Kumai

Abstract: African trypanosomiasis is a major disease of economic and public health importance caused by Trypanosoma brucei brucei that affects humans and livestock. The use of plant extract is fast becoming the choice method for the treatment of the disease. As a result, the current study investigated the in vitro and in vivo activity of methanolic seed extract of Garcinia kola on Trypanosoma brucei brucei. The in vitro assay was carried out by treating the parasites with 10, 5, 2.5, 1.3, 0.6 and 0.3 mg/ml of the extract. For the in vivo studies, the methanolic extract was administered orally at a dose of 200, 400 and 600 mg/kg body weight of rats 2 days post infection for 4 consecutive days. Parasitaemia and mean survival time were used as indices for monitoring the efficacy of the extracts. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, terpene, quinines, saponins and tannins, with steroid having the highest concentration (31.13mg/100g) and quinone with the lowest concentration (0.08mg/100g).The in vitro screening showed antitrypanosomal activity at higher concentrations of the extract (5 and 10mg/ml) after the 60 minutes incubation period. Althoughin the in vivo study, the extract did not significantly decrease (p>0.05) parasitaemia of the infected rats, we presume this may have occurred due to inefficient absorption of the extract after oral administration. However, this study reveals that the extract has potential anti-trypanosomal activity in vitro and can be used to design drugs to reduce the global scourge of trypanosomiasis.

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