Properties of herbal anti-malarial plant products.

<p>^aProduct names are unique identifiers and not the actual names of the licensed products.</p><p>Properties of herbal anti-malarial plant products.</p

IC₅₀values for the different herbal products against asexual parasites.

<p>Values reported as Mean ± SEM for at least two repeat experiments.</p><p>IC₅₀values for the different herbal products against asexual parasites.</p

Gametocyte development in the presence of suboptimal herbal product concentration.

<p>Asexual <i>P</i>. <i>falciparum</i> parasites (3D7 strain) were cultured in the presence of suboptimal (IC₁₀) levels of each of the 10 herbal products. Cultures were checked for gametocytes on days 5, 7, 11 and 13. ND is the control assay with just culture medium and no herbal product. Asterisks (*) indicate gametocyte counts that were either statistically significantly higher or lower than that of the control (ND). Assays were done in triplicate and error bars represent the standard deviations from at least two repeat experiments.</p

Gametocyte growth inhibition by the 10 herbal products.

<p>Asexual <i>P</i>. <i>falciparum</i> parasites (3D7 strain) were maintained in continuous culture to generate gametocytes. Early stage (day 12) and late stage (day 14) gametocytes were purified and treated with the 10 herbal products for 72 hours. A) early stage gametocytes treated with 1 μg/ml herbal extract, B) late stage gametocytes treated with 1 μg/ml herbal extract, C) early stage gametocytes treated with 100 μg/ml herbal extract, D) late stage gametocytes treated with 100 μg/ml herbal extract. Artesunate (AS) and primaquine (PQ) were added as standard control drugs for the early and late stage gametocytes respectively. For each herbal product, the number of gametocytes remaining after 72 hours was determined by Giemsa stained thin smears and expressed as a percentage of the number in an untreated control setup. Assays were done in triplicate and error bars represent the standard deviations from at least two repeat experiments. Asterisks (*) indicate inhibitions that were statistically significantly lower than that of the respective standard drugs.</p

Frequency distribution of metal concentrations in the muscle tissues of <i>Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus</i> and <i>Brachydeuterus auritus</i> from the waters of Ghana.

<p>Note: Pb, Cd and Cu were excluded from <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0194682#pone.0194682.g001" target="_blank">Fig 1</a> because Pb and Cd were below detection in all samples while 96% of the C. nigrodigitatus and 100% of the B. auritus samples had Cu levels below detections.</p

Trends in the concentration of heavy metals in the muscle tissues of <i>Brachydeuterus auritus</i> from the coastal waters of Ghana.

<p>Note: Pb, Cd and Cu were below detection limits in B. auritus. Also, pairwise comparison indicates concentration of all metals were significantly different except As and Hg (Kruskal-Wallis test with Fisher’s LSD post hoc, H_3,0.05 = 129.618, p < 0.05.</p

Comparison of heavy metals concentrations between the muscle tissues of <i>Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus</i> and <i>Brachydeuterus auritus</i> from the waters of Ghana.

<p>Note: <i>Mean ± SD with different letters in columns are significantly different (Mann–Whitney U test</i>, <i>p > 0</i>.<i>05)</i>.</p

Map of Ghana showing the Weija Dam and the Tema fishing harbour where fish specimens were collected.

<p>Map of Ghana showing the Weija Dam and the Tema fishing harbour where fish specimens were collected.</p

Trends in the concentration of heavy metals in the muscle tissues of <i>Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus</i> from the Weija Dam of the Densu River in Ghana.

<p>Note: Pb and Cd were below detection limits in C. nigrodigitatus. Note: Concentrations of As and Se, As and Zn, Hg and Se, as well as Hg and Zn were significantly different (Kruskal-Wallis Test with Fisher’s LSD post hoc, H_3,0.05 = 118.779, p < 0.05).</p

Weight of <i>Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus</i> and <i>Brachydeuterus auritus</i> respectively from the fresh and coastal waters in Ghana.

<p>Weight of <i>Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus</i> and <i>Brachydeuterus auritus</i> respectively from the fresh and coastal waters in Ghana.</p