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BACKGROUND: Sickle cell disease or drepanocytosis is the most known hemoglobin abnormality in the world. Recently, many medicinal plants used in the management of sickle cell disease in African traditional medicine have shown in vitro antisickling activity. OBJECTIVE: This research study aims to document some Congolese plant species used in the management of sickle cell disease in Kikwit city and investigate their pharmacological property in vitro. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was done from June 2015 to March 2016 among 26 traditional healers in Kikwit city, Democratic Republic of Congo. Emmel test was used to assess in vitro antisickling activity. Habitat, morphological, biological types, phytogeographical distribution, local names, and used parts of these plant species were also determined. RESULTS: Obtained results show that 23 plant species belonging to 16 families are used. The leaves represent the most used part (70%). Antisickling investigation showed that aqueous extracts of 18 plants (78%) exhibit a change in the shape of a sickle cell into a normal one with a normalized rate of at least 70%, confirming the in vivo effect observed by traditional healers when used as herbal medicine traditionally in the management of sickle cell disease. The evaluation of perimeter, surface, and radius of untreated and treated sickle red blood cells showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) as modification indicators of the red blood cell shape. Alchornea cordifolia, Alternanthera bettzickiana, Annona senegalensis, Dissotis brazzae, Hypoxis angustifolia, and Justicia secunda presented a very high antisickling activity with normalization >70%. Otherwise, Dissotis brazzae was the most active plant with a minimal concentration of normalization (MCN) of 11 µg/mL and a maximal normalization rate (NRmax) of 86%. CONCLUSION: Almost 80% of the plants studied showed interesting antisickling activity and justified their use in traditional medicine. The isolation of the molecules responsible for the biological activity of the most active plants and the determination of their chemical structures is under investigation.
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The present study reports in vitro anti-sickling activity and phytochemical analyses of the leaves of Ocimum gratissimum. Biological testing revealed that the plant extracts possess antisickling effects. The combination of spectroscopic techniques: 1D-NMR, 2D-NMR and MS revealed that ursolic acid is the major biologically active compound of O. gratissimum (Silva et al. in Molecules 13:2482-2487, 2008; Kedar et al. J Food Drug Anal 20:865-871, 2012). This study is the first report of the antisickling activity of ursolic acid isolated from O. gratissimum. The pharmaceutical relevance of findings from this study derives from the possibility of integrating O. gratissimum as an antisickling plant in the pharmacopoeia of Democratic Republic of the Congo. The identification of the active principle could enhance the standardization of antisickling recipe.
RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To perform phytochemical analyses on the leaves of Ocimum basilicum L. (O. basilicum), to elucidate the structure of isolate and then perform the antisickling activity on the crude extract and on the isolate. METHODS: The Emmel test performed on the acidified methanolic extract of this plant was used to evaluate the antisickling activity. The structure characterization of the active compound was performed using chromatographic techniques for the separation and the spectroscopic ones for structure elucidation (1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, COSY, HMBC). RESULTS: The chemical screening on the crude extract revealed the presence of polyphenols (flavonoids, anthocyanins, leucoanthocyanins, tannins, quinones) alkaloids, saponins, triterpenoids and steroids. The obtained extract after evaporation yielded 34.50 g (11.5%) out of 300 g of powdered leaves of O. basilicum. The acidified methanolic extract and butyl stearate showed an interesting antisickling activity. CONCLUSIONS: The acidified methanolic extract and butyl stearate from O. basilicum displayed a good antisickling activity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to report the antisickling activity of this compound in this plant. The synthesized compound presented the same spectroscopic characteristics than the natural one and the antisickling activities of its derivatives are understudying.