Kyere-Davies Gertrude, Agyare Christian, Boakye Yaw Duah, Suzuki Brian M, Caffrey Conor R
Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases (CDIPD), Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
J Parasitol Res. 2018 Jun 7;2018:9431467. doi: 10.1155/2018/9431467. eCollection 2018.
Schistosomiasis is a disease caused by a flatworm parasite that infects people in tropical and subtropical regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, China, and Southeast Asia. The reliance on just one drug for current treatment emphasizes the need for new chemotherapeutic strategies. The aim of this study was to determine the phenotypic effects of extracts and fractions of leaf and stem bark of (family Euphorbiaceae), a tree that grows in tropical parts of Africa, on two developmental stages of , namely, postinfective larvae (schistosomula or somules) and adults. Methanol leaf and stem bark extracts of were successively fractionated with acetone, petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, and methanol. These fractions were then incubated with somules at 0.3125 to 100 g/mL and with adults at 1.25 g/mL. The acetone fractions of both the methanol leaf and bark of were most active against the somules whereas the petroleum ether fractions showed least activity. For adult parasites, the acetone fraction of methanol bark extract also elicited phenotypic changes. The data arising provide the first step in the discovery of new treatments for an endemic infectious disease using locally sourced African medicinal plants.
血吸虫病是一种由扁形虫寄生虫引起的疾病，感染撒哈拉以南非洲、南美洲、中国和东南亚热带及亚热带地区的人群。目前治疗仅依赖一种药物，这凸显了开发新化疗策略的必要性。本研究的目的是确定非洲大戟科一种生长在非洲热带地区的树木的叶和茎皮提取物及馏分对血吸虫两个发育阶段，即感染后幼虫（血吸虫毛蚴或小体）和成虫的表型效应。该树木的甲醇叶和茎皮提取物依次用丙酮、石油醚、乙酸乙酯和甲醇进行分馏。然后将这些馏分分别与浓度为0.3125至100微克/毫升的毛蚴以及浓度为1.25微克/毫升的成虫一起孵育。该树木甲醇叶和树皮的丙酮馏分对毛蚴的活性最强，而石油醚馏分的活性最低。对于成虫寄生虫，甲醇树皮提取物的丙酮馏分也引起了表型变化。这些数据为利用非洲当地药用植物发现一种地方性传染病的新治疗方法迈出了第一步。
