Moringa oleifera ameliorates cuprizone-induced cerebellar damage in adult female rats

Objectives: Cuprizone is a neurotoxicant used in modeling demyelinating disorders. This study explored the effects of Moringa oleifera (MO) on oxidative, histomorphological and behavioural changes in cuprizone-damaged cerebellum.Methods: Twenty adult female Wistar rats were grouped into 4, each group having five animals. Group A received 1 ml of normal saline (Control); group B received 0.4% cuprizone; group C received 15.6 mg/kgBW Moringa oleifera leaf extract; group D received 0.4% cuprizone and 15.6 mg/kgBW Moringa oleifera, orally for 5 weeks. The animals were assessed for exploratory and locomotor activities, while the cerebellum was processed for histology and assayed for nitric oxide (NO), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities.Results: Cuprizone treatment caused weight reduction, disruption of Purkinje cell layer, cellular degeneration, reduction in NO, CAT and SOD activities. However, these changes were ameliorated when co-administered with MO.Conclusion: The anti-oxidative property of Moringa oleifera is responsible for its ameliorative effect in cuprizone neurotoxicity.Keywords: demyelination, cuprizone, cerebellar damage, Moringa oleifera, oxidative enzyme

Moringa oleifera attenuates biochemical and histological changes associated with the pancreas in nicotine-treated rats

Objective: The study was undertaken in order to evaluate the beneficial potential of Moringa oleifera, in nicotine-induced pancreatic injury.Method: Forty-five adult female albino rats were divided into 5 groups A-E, each group having nine rats. Group A received normal saline; group B received 6.88 mg/kg of nicotine intraperitoneally (i.p); group C received 6.88 mg/kg of nicotine i.p. and 200 mg/kg of Moringa oleifera leaf powder dissolved in 2 ml of normal saline (orally); group D received 13.76 mg/kg of nicotine i.p., while group E received 13.76 mg/kg of nicotine i.p. and 200 mg/kg of Moringa oleifera leaf powder dissolved in 2 ml of normal saline (orally). Treatment was for 8 days and the rats were sacrificed after 24 hours of termination of study. Intracardial blood specimens were obtained to analyse blood glucose, while the pancreas was excised and either fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde for histology or sucrose solution and homogenised for biochemical analysis of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PDH) enzymes.Results: In comparison with the Control, animals treated with low dose of nicotine with or without Moringa oleifera and those treated with high dose of nicotine plus Moringa oleifera had reduction in body weights (p>0.05), while marked reduction in pancreatic weights was noted in low dose nicotine (p<0.05) and both nicotine groups co-treated with Moringa oleifera (p<0.05). There were no significant changes in the levels of blood glucose and pancreatic G-6-PDH levels, while significant reduction occurred in pancreatic LDH levels in nicotine-treated rats (p<0.05). However, LDH improved following coadministration with Moringa oleifera. Observation of the histology of the pancreas revealed atrophy of intercalated ducts, poorly delineated and disintegrating islet of Langerhans in animals treated with the higher dose of nicotine, while changes in pancreatic tissue in animals co-treated with Moringa oleifera were not as severe as the nicotine-treated animals.Conclusion: Moringa oleifera leaf decoction minimally ameliorates morphological and biochemical changes associated with nicotine-induced pancreatic damage.Keywords: Nicotine, Pancreatic damage, Moringa oleifer

Review of the use ethnobotanicals in the treatment of skin infections

Skin problems are common in most of the tribal inhabitants and are caused by infections, over-exposure to sunlight, toxicity, parasites, unclean water and even stress. Infectious skin diseases are primarily categorized as bacterial, fungal, viral or parasitic diseases. Skin diseases occur all over the world, but are more prevalent in tropical regions and it is commonly observed in children, young adults and aged people. Globally, the prevalence studies in children documented the occurrence of skin diseases to be ranging from 21% to 87%. Socio-economic impacts of skin infections include poverty, joblessness, severe disability for work and limited life quality. High cost of orthodox antibiotics, resistance of microorganisms to the drugs and undesirable side effects of some antibiotics have led to the search for medicinal plants with plausible therapeutic effect in the management of skin infections. Plants have also been found to be less toxic, potent, readily available and affordable. Several medicinal plants have been used to manage skin infections in the traditional medicinal systems of many cultures worldwide. The present review gives information on the prevalence of skin infections, ethnobotanical survey reports of plants used in the management of skin infections and the pharmacological activities of the plants. The pharmacological activities of these plants include antibacterial, antifungal, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties. The present review constitutes a resource material which can engender further scientific investigation in the potential discovery of new natural bioactive compounds with antimicrobial effects on skin diseases.Keywords: Skin infections, Prevalence, Anti-infective plants, Pharmacological activity, Indigenous Knowledg

Natural food wrappers: nutritional components, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities

This study investigated the nutritional contents, phytochemical components, as well as antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the leaves of Thaumatococcus danielii Benth., Tectona grandis L., Macrostachyum megaphrynium (Benth) K. Schum, Musa paradisiaca L., Sterculia tragacantha Lindl and Theobroma cacao L. Traditionally, leaves of these plant species are used for wrapping food and they are components of recipes used in the treatment of various diseases such as: tuberculosis, bronchitis, inflammation, rheumatism and arthritis. Standard laboratory protocols were used for all experiments. The antioxidant activity of samples was determined using DDPH method. The extracts (100-200 mg/ml) of samples were screened against isolates (105-106cfu/ml) using agar well diffusion method. The test organisms were clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans, obtained via due process from University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. The samples had varied proximate components; M. paradisiaca had the highest crude fibre (12.13%) and crude protein (22.13%) contents. The mineral contents of the samples varied significantly (pd≤0.05). T. cacao recorded the highest magnesium (75.00mg/100g) and potassium (56.67mg/100g) contents. T. grandis was richestin calcium (266.67mg/100g) and phosphorus (251.67mg/100g) whereas S. tragacantha had the highest content of sodium (1,346.67mg/100g). Ascorbic acid (8.33mg/100g) was the highest vitamin content in all samples. Some of the phytochemicals were present in high quantity in the samples. M. paradisiaca had the highest alkaloids content (1,833.33mg/100g). T. cacao recorded the highest concentration of flavonoids (1,538.33mg/100g). S. tragacantha was richest in saponins (1,421.67mg/100g) and M. macrostachyum had the highest tannins (1,571.67mg/100g) content. T. cacao gave an antioxidant activity of 29.13% against DDPH radicals. Furthermore, it displayed significant antimicrobial activity (9.3-38.3mm) against all test organisms. This study validated the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the samples. The nutritional and phytochemical components of the samples could be responsible for the observed bio-activities. Aside from using these leaves as food wrappers they could have therapeutic benefits, especially in the management of infectious and metabolic diseases.Keywords: Food, Nutrients, Phytochemical components, Natural antioxidant, Anti-infectiv

Traditional soups in Nigeria: A review of six botanicals

Ethnobotanical investigations by workers have revealed the use of juvenile leaves of Cissus populnea L. (ogbolo), Sesamum indicum L. (eeku),Gongronema latifolium Benth. (Madunmaro), Mangifera indica L. (Mongoro), Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. (Odunkun) and Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. (Araba) for preparing soups in Nigeria. In spite of this, the consumption of these traditional soups seems to be abandoned and only consumed during scarcity of commonly used vegetables such as Corchorus olitorius L. (Ewedu). Certain traditional soups are associated with particular Nigerian ethnic groups. As examples, Gongronema latifolium to Igbo people of southeast Nigeria, while Sesamum indicum to the Yorubas and Hausas, southwest and northern Nigeria respectively. For ethnomedicinal purposes Cissus populnea and Sesamum indicum soups enhance sexual performance in men as well as production and cleansing of sperm. Mangifera indica soup is used as anti-anaemic; Gongronema latifolium soup forms part of a recipe for the management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and Ceiba pentandra soup is used for treating diarrhoea disorder. Despite the therapeutic and nutritional benefits of the soups, their consumption is gradually waning due to erosion of traditional  knowledge and deforestation of medicinal plants occasioned by increasing urbanization. This review documents the therapeutic uses and pharmacological effects of six medicinal plants used as traditional soups, with the view that an awareness of their health benefits could lead to a resurgence of their consumption in diet

Moringa oleifera ameliorates histomorphological changes associated with cuprizone neurotoxicity in the hippocampal Cornu ammonis (CA) 3 region

Summary: Cuprizone-induced neurotoxicity has severally been used to study demyelinating diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS), adversely affecting both the white and grey matters of the brain. Lesions have been observed in different regions of the brain including, corpus callosum, neocortex and the hippocampal formation. The current study explored the role of Moringa oleifera leaf extract in restoring the resultant histomorphological changes in cuprizone-induced hippocampal damage in Wistar rats. Twenty adult female Wistar rats with average weight of 163.74 ± 3.59 g were grouped into A: Control, administered with 1 ml of normal saline, B: received 0.4% cuprizone diet, C: received 1.875 mg/ml/day of Moringa extract, and D: received a combination of cuprizone and Moringa in similar doses. Administration was oral for 5 weeks. The weights of animals were assessed during treatment, and at the termination of experiment, the rats were euthanized and the brains were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde. The tissue was processed for histological and histochemical examinations using the Haematoxylin and Eosin stain and cresyl fast violet stain to assess the general microarchitecture and neuronal cells respectively of hippocampal cornu ammonis (CA) 3 region. The body weight of cuprizone-treated rats was reduced and this was ameliorated significantly in animals that were co-administered with Moringa. Similarly, there were histological alterations in the CA3 region of the hippocampus with the presence of pyknotic pyramidal cells organized in clusters and CA3 cells with degenerative changes, but administration of Moringa led to a better organised and fairly intact histological appearance. Pharmaceutical development of Moringa oleifera into appropriate therapeutic formulations could offer some relief to patients of demyelinating conditions that have clinical features of neurological deficits.Keywords: cuprizone, neurotoxicity, hippocampus, Moring