Cotyledon orbiculata, Hermannia depressa and Nicotiana glauca are widely used
plants in traditional medicine for treatment of various infections and diseases. C.
orbiculata is mostly used in treatment of epilepsy, earache and the removal of warts
while H. depressa is used to relieve toothache, nerves and diarrhoea. Lastly, N.
glauca has been mostly used as pain killer in relieving earache, toothache and
seldom applied on body in treatment of soreness and inflammation. Traditional
usages of these plants by indigenous people and local traditional healers have not
yet been scientifically reported, that is why the current study was aimed at
determining the anthelmintic and anticancer activity of these plants.
The anthelmintic activity of acetone and water extracts from the shoots of Cotyledon
orbiculata, Hermannia depressa and Nicotiana glauca were investigated using the
egg hatch, larval development and larval mortality assays. In all extracts tested, C.
orbiculata water extract at 7.5 mg/ml prevented nematode eggs from hatching with
82.63% success rate. Other extracts exhibited egg hatch inhibition in a degree of
less than 50%. Similarly, C. orbiculata water extracts suppressed nematode larval
development with 85.32% at the concentration of 2.5 mg/ml followed by 66.69% of
H. depressa extract at 7.5 mg/ml concentration. However, N. glauca water and all
acetone extracts induced the 100% larval development inhibition. The in vitro larval
mortality rate revealed that the water extracts from all the plants were able to kill all
larvae at 2.5 mg/ml within 48 to 96 h. The results from this study have shown that the
extracts from the three plants have the potential to prevent and ameliorate diseases
associated with gastrointestinal nematodes.
The anticancer activity of the above mentioned plants was tested on two cancer cell
lines, the MCF-7 and HeLa cells. All plants possessed anticancer activity at different
durations and concentrations. The N. glauca demonstrated an activity against both
cell lines, however, the plant acetone extracts were much effective on the MCF-7 line
at 48 hours with inhibition percentages > 80% at all concentrations. The N. glauca
acetone extracts were effective at 24 hours. The H. depressa acetone extracts also
possessed much activity than water extracts at 24 hours, whereas C. orbiculata
showed no activity at all on this cell line. The C. orbiculata acetone extracts followed
by the water extracts were the most effective on the HeLa line ranging from 12 to 84% and 0 to 77% inhibition. H. depressa activity was observed at 48 hours of
experimentation at all concentrations in both extracts. N. glauca exhibited significant
inhibition percentages at 24 hours of water extracts and 48 hours of acetone
extracts. This study has showed that the three plants are potential candidates for
cancer treatment.
Brine shrimp lethality test was conducted on the nauplii stage of the shrimps.
Furthermore, two assays, MTT and LDH cytotoxicity assays were conducted on the
MDBK cells. None of the plants was toxic on the brine shrimps as most of them
survived through 24 and 48 hours. C. orbiculata and H. depressa brine shrimp larval
mortality was observed at 96, 72, 72, 96 and 96 h at 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 mg/ml
of water extracts respectively and 72 h at all concentrations of acetone extracts while
N. glauca larval mortality was observed at 120 and 96 hours at all concentration of
both extracts. There was a cell survival decrease of 50% at 0.65 mg/ml and 50-60%
in C. orbiculata water and acetone extracts treated wells, respectively. No significant
cell decrease was observed from both H. depressa and N. glauca water and acetone
extracts except for N. glauca acetone extract at 2.50 mg/ml. None of the plants
induced a significant toxicity on both the brine shrimps and the bovine cells.
Alkaloids, saponins, tannins and phenols were the constituents tested for in order to
identify constituents responsible for observed activity of the whole study. No
alkaloids were detected from all plants for both extracts, only saponins, tannins and
phenols were present even though N. glauca acetone extracts possessed none of
the tested constituents. Tested plants are therefore good candidates in treating
parasitic gastrointestinal nematodes and cancer disease.
Potassium permanganate (KMnOâ) is a widely used chemical substance in the rural
communities as prophylaxis or in treatment of various infections and diseases;
however, there is no scientific validation of its usage. Anthelmintic activity of
potassium permanganate was tested against parasitic gastrointestinal nematodes in
comparison to anthelmintic commercial drugs, Tramisol®, Noromectin® and
Valbazen®. There was no egg hatch inhibition induced (<10%) by potassium
permanganate at all concentrations as compared to >80% inhibition of commercial
drugs, however, 85.24, 98.10 and 90.91% of larval development was induced at 0.5,
1.0 and 1.5 mg/ml, respectively. Larval mortality was observed at 216, 144 and 144 hours at 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mg/ml, respectively. The cytotoxicity of this chemical was
tested on the brine shrimps and MBDK cells as well. Within 24 hours all the brine
shrimps larvae treated with KMnOâ died. A significant decrease in MDBK cell survival
was observed at 0.65 mg/ml at 24, 48 and 72 hours. This study has therefore
showed that potassium permanganate have anthelmintic activity and concentration
dependent cytotoxicity on the mammalian cell lines. In conclusion Cotyledon
orbiculata, Hermannia depressa, Nicotiana glauca and potassium permanganate
have the potential to supress the aggressiveness of parasitic gastrointestinal
nematode and cancer diseases. These substances are therefore potential
candidates in treatment of tested pathogens.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-10302014-150904 |
| Date | 30 October 2014 |
| Creators | Molefe, Nthatisi Innocentia |
| Contributors | Dr. Ana M. Tsotetsi, Dr. A. O.T. Ashafa, Prof. O.M.M. Thekisoe |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-10302014-150904/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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