Browsing by Author "Nambejja, Cissy"

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    Artemisia annua L.- Vernonia amygdalina Del: A Potential Herbal Artemisinin Combination Treatment against Malaria
    (Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International, 2016) Nambejja, Cissy; Ogwang, Patrick; Engeu Onegi, Berna; Anyama, Norbert; Matu, Esther
    The aim of the study was to determine the potential of Vernonia amygdalina - Artemisia annua combination as a possible herbal artemisinin combination treatment of malaria. Place and Duration of Study: Study was conducted at Natural Chemotherapeutics Research Institute, Ministry of Health, Kampala Uganda and at the Centre for Traditional Medicine and Drug Methodology: After authentication of the plants, mature healthy Artemisia annua and Vernonia amygdalina leaves were collected and shade dried over 2 weeks. The dry materials were then each separately extracted by maceration using Petroleum ether and methanol. The filtrates obtained were first concentrated by fanning and then oven dried at 50°C to constant weight of dry extract. Eight groups of Plasmodium berghei ANKA infected mice were treated once daily for 4 days from the day of inoculation as follows; group I, 200 mg/kg bwt of A. annua methanol extract; group II, 125 mg/kg of V. amygdalina methanol extract; group III, 200 mg/kg of A. annua pet ether extract; group IV, 125 mg/kg of V. amgydalina pet ether extract; group V, 125 mg/kg of V. amygdalina + 200 mg/kg of A. annua methanol extracts group; VI, 125 mg/kg of V. amygdalina + 200 mg/kg of A. annua pet ether extracts; group VII (positive control), 15 mg/kg of artemisinin+ 3mg/kg of naphthoquine and group VIII (negative control), 0.2 ml 10% Tween 80. Parasitaemia in each mice was determined by microscopy on day 5 while survival times were recorded over 30 day period. The means of percent parasitaemia and survival times for each treatment group were determined and differences tested for significances using One-way analysis of variance followed by Student's t-test at P=0.05 using STATA version 13.0 statistical program. Results: The petroleum ether extracts combination produced 100% parasite clearance by day 5 just like the Artemisinin-Napthoquine. The survival times for the herbal combination were however poor and significantly less i.e 10.67±1.09 days compared to more than 30.0 ± 0.0 days for the ACT, P=0.000. Conclusion: The V. amygdalina-A. annua petroleum ether extract combination shows promise for use as a herbal artemisinin combination against malaria however the survival times need improvement to match that of the ACT.
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    Medicinal plants used for treatment of malaria by indigenous communities of Tororo District, Eastern Uganda
    (Tropical medicine and health, 2023-06-12) Tabuti, John R. S.; Nabatanzi, Alice; Nambejja, Cissy; Mutyaba, Michael R.; Omara, Timothy; Waako, Paul
    Malaria remains the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. Although recent developments such as malaria vaccine trials inspire optimism, the search for novel antimalarial drugs is urgently needed to control the mounting resistance of Plasmodium species to the available therapies. The present study was conducted to document ethnobotanical knowledge on the plants used to treat symptoms of malaria in Tororo district, a malaria-endemic region of Eastern Uganda. An ethnobotanical study was carried out between February 2020 and September 2020 in 12 randomly selected villages of Tororo district. In total, 151 respondents (21 herbalists and 130 non-herbalists) were selected using multistage random sampling method. Their awareness of malaria, treatment-seeking behaviour and herbal treatment practices were obtained using semi-structured questionnaires and focus group discussions. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, paired comparison, preference ranking and informant consensus factor. A total of 45 plant species belonging to 26 families and 44 genera were used in the preparation of herbal medicines for management of malaria and its symptoms. The most frequently mentioned plant species were Vernonia amygdalina, Chamaecrista nigricans, Aloe nobilis, Warburgia ugandensis, Abrus precatorius, Kedrostis foetidissima, Senna occidentalis, Azadirachta indica and Mangifera indica. Leaves (67.3%) were the most used plant part while maceration (56%) was the major method of herbal remedy preparation. Oral route was the predominant mode of administration with inconsistencies in the posology prescribed. This study showed that the identified medicinal plants in Tororo district, Uganda, are potential sources of new antimalarial drugs. This provides a basis for investigating the antimalarial efficacy, phytochemistry and toxicity of the unstudied species with high percentage use values to validate their use in the management of malaria.