నైరూప్య

EVALUATION OF THE EFFICACY OF LEAF EXTRACT OF MANGIFERA INDICA+ROOT EXTRACT NAUCLEA LATIFOLIA IN LABORATORY RAT: TOWARDS THE CONTROL OF GASTRO INTESTINAL HELMINTHES INFECTION

Mohammed A Rufai* and Akeem Akinboro

There are a large number of plants whose anthelmintic activity has been demonstrated under controlled experimentation, either through feeding the whole plant or administering plant extracts to parasitised hosts. However, contrary to traditional expectation, there are also a great number of plants with purported antiparasitic properties, which have not been reproduced under experimental conditions. Studies on the helminthicidal activities of leaf extract of Mangifera indica+root extract of Nauclea latifolia in mice was designed to determine their efficacies against intestinal helmithes. Sixty Swiss albino mice maintained conventionally were selected randomly from laboratory animal house. The collected faecal samples were examined by simple faecal flotation techniques for isolation of parasitic eggs and/or oocysts. 42 (70.0%) of the mice under study were infected with at least one gastro intestinal parasite. The leaf extract of Mangifera indica+root extract of Nauclea latifolia was prepared by boiling in tap water. Graded concentrations (100%, 50%, 25% and 12.5%) of stock that was produce in Tetfund Zoology Laboratory of Osun State University was tested against both mice of different weights and sexes for helminthicidal efficacy. LC50 of the extract value obtained was found to be 75 mg/l in both big and small mice. Prevalence of gastrointestinal infections reduced with increased concentration of extract. Statistical analysis using analysis of variance indicated that there was a significant difference in the means of the treatment concentrations and the rates of prevalence of gastrointestinal infections in the sampled mice. The results of this research showed that the leaf extract of Mangifera indica+root extract of Nauclea latifolia are highly active against intestinal helminths in the sampled mice. The extract action also had significant influence (p>0.05) on the time of exposure of mice and the rate of prevalence. The safety of the leaf extract of Mangifera indica+root extract of Nauclea latifolia on vital organs of humans may need to be investigated to determine its safety on humans.