An ethnobotanical survey and in vitro cytotoxicity study of medicinal plants traditionally used in the treatment of cancers in Ugbine, Nigeria
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1
Universiti Putra Malaysia, Seri Kembangan, Malaysia
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2
University of Benin, Nigeria
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3
International Medical University, Malaysia
Background
Herbalists in Ugbine, Nigeria are known to use herbs in treatment of cancers amongst other diseases. Therefore, this research was designed to study the medicinal plants used in the treatment of cancers amongst traditional healers in the community and herb sellers, and to validate this claim scientifically.
Methods
A cross–sectional survey was conducted between August and September 2017 using a validated structured questionnaire. Plant specimens indicated in the recipes were collected, sent to Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) for identification and authentication, thereafter used for cytotoxicity study. A specimen with voucher number FHI - 111105 was deposited. Dried/powdered leaves 45 g of Petiveria alliacea (PA) was extracted with 900 ml of dichloromethane (DCM), methanol (MeOH) and DCM:MeOH (1:1) by cold maceration for 72 hours. The solvent extract was filtered and concentrated using rotary evaporator, subsequently was dried in an oven at 40oC for 3 days. 3-(4,5-Dimethythiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was performed to assess in vitro growth inhibition of extracts against cancer cell lines (HCT-116 (colon), PC-3 (prostate), MCF-7 (breast), PANC-1 (pancreas). Cells were treated with the extracts (0.01 to 100 µg/mL) for 96 hours at 5% CO2 and 37oC. An extract was regarded to be active if it had a mean GI50 < 100 µg/mL in any of the four cell lines. Among the active extracts, GI50 < 10 µg /mL in at least one tumour cell line was classified as strong growth inhibitory effect, whereas extracts with GI50 in the range of 10-100 µg /mL were considered to have moderate growth inhibitory effect. Extracts with GI50 > 100 µg/mL were considered to have no activity.
Results
A total of 11 respondents were interviewed. They were mainly herb sellers (64%) and the rest were traditional healers. They were predominantly females (90.9%). Majority (63.6%) of them aged between 61-90 years, while 36.4% were between 31 – 60 years old. The level of illiteracy amongst them is high (63.6%). The tribe that predominates amongst the respondents was Yoruba (45.5%), followed by Bini (36.4), Calabar (9.1%) and others (9.1%). Majority (54.5%) of them practised African traditional religion, followed by Islam (27.3%) and Christianity (18.2%). Although majority (81.8%) of the respondents have knowledge of the disease called cancer, the treatment of this disease with herbs was only practised by 9.1% of them. The in vitro cytotoxicity test showed moderate growth inhibitory effect of DCM:MeOH extract against HCT-116 (GI50 55 ± 10.4 µg/mL), PC-3 (GI50 65 ± 5.0 µg/mL) but failed to show activity against PANC-I and MCF-7 cells. The DCM extract also showed moderate activity against PC-3 (GI50 45 ± 5.0 µg/mL). However, the MeOH extract was inactive.
Conclusion
PA extracts produced varying degrees of cytotoxic activities against cancer cell lines. This observation therefore supports the potential of this plant as a source of new anticancer agents. Further studies are required to identify the active constituents found in this plant.
Keywords:
Petiveria alliacea,
Cell viability,
cell growth,
Cancer,
MTT assay
Conference:
International Conference on Drug Discovery and Translational Medicine 2018 (ICDDTM '18)
“Seizing Opportunities and Addressing Challenges of Precision Medicine”, Putrajaya, Malaysia, 3 Dec - 5 Feb, 2019.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Cancer
Citation:
Nwaefulu
ON,
Owolabi
JO,
Sagineedu
SR,
Woei
LC,
Kassim
NK and
Stanslas
J
(2019). An ethnobotanical survey and in vitro cytotoxicity study of medicinal plants traditionally used in the treatment of cancers in Ugbine, Nigeria.
Front. Pharmacol.
Conference Abstract:
International Conference on Drug Discovery and Translational Medicine 2018 (ICDDTM '18)
“Seizing Opportunities and Addressing Challenges of Precision Medicine”.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fphar.2018.63.00132
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Received:
30 Sep 2018;
Published Online:
17 Jan 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Prof. Johnson Stanslas, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Seri Kembangan, Seri Kembangan, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia, jstanslas@yahoo.co.uk