Introduction: Despite concerns about toxicity, potentially harmful effects and herb-drug
interactions, the use of herbal medicines remains widely practiced by people living with
HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in Uganda.
Objective: The objective of the paper was to comprehensively review the literature on the
toxicity and chemical composition of commonly used medicinal plant species in treating
PLHIV in Uganda.
Methods: We reviewed relevant articles and books published over the last sixty years on
ethnobotany, antiviral/anti-HIV activity, toxicity, phytochemistry of Vachellia hockii, Albizia
coriaria, Bridelia micrantha, Cryptolepis sanguinolenta, Erythrina abyssinica, Gardenia
ternifolia, Gymnosporia senegalensis, Psorospermum febrifugium, Securidaca
longipendunculata, Warburgia ugandensis and Zanthoxylum chalybeum and their
synonyms. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct and
Google Scholar.
Discussion: Most of the plant species reviewed apart from P. febrifugium, S.
longipedunculata and C. sanguinolenta lacked detailed phytochemical analyses as well
as the quantification and characterization of their constituents. Crude plant extracts were
the most commonly used. However, purified/single component extracts from different
plant parts were also used in some studies. The U87 human glioblastoma was the most
commonly used cell line. Water, ethanol, methanol and DMSO were the commonest
solvents used. In some instances, isolated purified compounds/extracts such as
Cryptolepine and Psorospermin were used.
Conclusion: Cytotoxicity varied with cell type, solvent and extract type used making it
difficult for direct comparison of the plant species. Five of the eleven plant species namely,
A. coriaria, C. sanguinolenta, G. ternifolia, P. febrifugium and Z. chalybeum had no
cytotoxicity studies in animal models. For the remaining six plant species, the crude
aqueous and ethanol extracts were mainly used in acute oral toxicity studies in mice.
Herbalists reported only A. coriaria and W. ugandensis to cause toxic side effects in
humans. However, selective cytotoxic plant extracts can potentially be beneficial as
anticancer or anti-tumour drugs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:84407 |
| Date | 30 March 2023 |
| Creators | Anywar, G., Kakudidi, E., Byamukama, R., Mukonzo, J., Schubert, A., Oryem-Origa, H., Jassoy, C. |
| Publisher | Frontiers Research Foundation |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 1663-9812, 615147 |
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