Evaluation of the Antibacterial Activity of Chromolaena Odorata in Wistar Rats and its Chemical Characterization

Chromolaena odorata is a plant that has been used traditionally in the treatment of diverse disease conditions. This study sort to evaluate the anti-Salmonella typhi potential of Chromolaena odorata compared to ciprofloxacin in Wistar rats and to identify the phytochemical constituents present in the plant that could be responsible for the antibacterial activity exhibited by the plant.  The animals were divided into six groups: group 1 was normal control, group 2 was infected with Salmonella typhi without treatment, groups 3, 4 and 5 were Salmonella typhi infected and treated with 100mg/kg, 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg of the extract respectively and group 6 was infected and treated with 500mg/70kg of ciprofloxacin. The animals were inoculated with a single infective dose of Salmonella typhi bacteria and subsequently, treated with the graded doses of methanol leaf extract of Chromolaena odorata and 500mg/70kg dose of ciprofloxacin for a period of fifteen days, when the animals were confirmed infected. Fecal matter was collected from each group on day 0 (when the animals were confirmed infected) and on every five days interval for the period of the study, for Salmonella typhi load assay. This was followed by phytochemical screening and GC-MS analysis of the plant extract. Treatment of infected animals with the extract and standard drug, resulted in a dose and time dependent eradication of the Salmonella typhi from the stool, while the phytochemical screening and the GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of phenolic, flavonoid, alkaloid, steroid and Geijerene,         3-methyl-3-vinyl- cyclopropene;      4, 6-Dimethyl-3-nitro-2(1H)-pyridinone, 2-Hexyn-1-ol,                1,2,3,4-Tetrahydro-2,3-dimethylquinoxaline, nonyl prop-1-en-2-yl ester Carbonic acid respectively. Thus the observed antibacterial activity could be attributed to the presence of these phytochemicals

Comparative Cough Suppression of Chitosan Crab Extract of Uca tangeri and Dihydrocodeine

Cough is an inmate primitive reflex and acts as a part of the body's immune system to protect against foreign materials from the respiratory tract. This study was done to investigate the cough suppression potential of Uca tangeri. A day before the test, guinea pigs were placed individually in a transparent chamber (60 × 36 × 60 cm) for 5 minutes before cough was induced by exposure to 15% citric acid, delivered using an Omron compressor nebulizer (rate of 0.4 ml/minutes and particle size 5?m) for 10 minutes. The animals were then monitored visually within this exposure time for cough; the latency and counts, of which, were taken as the basal values. The animals exhibiting 10 - 20 bouts of cough were selected for the study and fasted overnight but with access to water. The selected animals were randomly allotted to 5 groups (n=5 per group). The animals were treated orally thus: Group 1 was the control group and received 2 ml/kg of normal saline; group 2 received 25 mg/kg dihydrocodeine; Group 3 received 150 mg/kg extract; group 4 received 300 mg/kg extract and group 5 received 600 mg/kg of the extract. An hour after administration, they were re-exposed to citric acid aerosol (as earlier described) and the latency of cough and cough count were recorded. The procedure was repeated at hours 2 and 3 after treatment. Antitussive activity was then evaluated in each guinea-pig as the percentage reduction in the number of coughs also known as percentage suppression of cough and percentage increase in latency of cough. The results revealed that Uca tangeri exhibited a dose dependent percentage increase in cough latency period as well as percentage increase in suppression of cough which was inferior to dihydrocodeine, but significantly greater than normal saline and basal levels

Effect of Chromolaena Odorata on Hepatotoxicology and Histopathology in the Liver Induced by Salmonella Typhi in Wistar Rats

Typhoid fever, also known as enteric fever, is caused by the human restricted bacterial pathogen known as Salmonella enterica serovars typhi, which is always associated with liver pathology. This study attempts to investigate the Hepatotoxicological and Histopathological changes of the liver associated with Salmonella typhi infection in Wistar rats and to examine the potential of methanol leaf extract of Chromolaena odorata (MLECO) to reverse these adverse changes in comparison to ciprofloxacin treatment. The animals were divided into six groups: group 1 was normal control, group 2 was infected with Salmonella typhi without treatment (negative control), group 3, 4 and 5 were Salmonella typhi infected and treated with 100mg/kg, 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg of the extract respectively, and group 6 was infected and treated with 500mg/70kg of ciprofloxacin. The animals were inoculated with a single contagious dose of Salmonella typhi bacteria and were subsequently treated with the graded doses of the extract and 500mg/70kg dose of ciprofloxacin for a period of fifteen days, after the animals were confirmed infected. The rats were humanely sacrificed using diethyl ether anesthesia and blood samples taken for liver function investigation and liver harvested and processed for histological examination. MLECO reversed the adverse hepatotoxicological and pathological changes in the liver induced by S. tyhi infection in a dose-dependent manner. This was done with the 200mg and 400mg doses being more effective at reversing liver changes than ciprofloxacin

Antidiarrhoeal Activities of Lime (Citrus aurantiifolia) Extract in Experimentally-Induced Diarrhoea Model

This study investigated the effects of Lime on Diarrhoea in Wistar rats. A total of 60 Wistar rats were procured and randomly divided into 3 groups of 20 animals each for each of the three t-test models. The twenty healthy Wistar rats for each diarrhoea model were fasted for 6 hours prior to the experiment but allowed free access to water. The twenty animals were randomly divided into 5 groups of 4 animals each for each experiment. Established antidiarrhea models were followed. The test groups received various doses (97.65mg/kg, 195.3mg/kg, and 390.6mg/kg) of Citrus aurantiifolia juice extract; whereas positive controls received Loperamide (2.5mg/kg) and negative controls received distilled water (1ml/kg). The administration was done once daily for 15 days, and the faeces of each animal was collected on the 5th, 10th and 15th day. The result of this study showed that medium and high dose Citrus aurantiifolia has an anti-diarrhoeal effect on castor oil-induced diarrhoea over repeated administration for a minimum of 15 days as it prolonged the onset of diarrhoea, decreased the frequency of defecation and gastrointestinal transit time in Wistar rats. This study shows that Citrus aurantiifolia demonstrates significant anti-diarrhoeal activity and can be used as an anti-diarrhoea agent