The purpose of the study is to evaluate the phytochemicals and anti-plasmodial potential of N-butanol and Aqueous fractions of the leaf of Sterculia setigera with a view to provide the scientific bases for its traditional uses in treatment of malaria.  A rodent malaria parasite, Plasmodium berghei, was inoculated into healthy albino mice intraperitoneally with 1×107 parasites. The N-butanol and Aqueous fractions of S. setigera were administered orally at different doses of 150 mg / kg, 300 mg / kg and 600 mg / kg 72 hours post-inoculation separately. Chloroquine was used as standard drug while distilled water was used as vehicle and for negative control. The phytochemical screening and Thin Layer Chromatographic profile were carried out according to standard methods. The N-butanol and aqueous fractions of the leaf of S. setigera was observed to have percentage suppression of 52.84%, 50.33% and 64.45%, 55.14% for N-butanol and aqueous fractions at doses of 150 and 300 mg / kg respectively. The percentage change (body weight) for Plasmodium berghei infected mice treated with aqueous fraction was observed to be 0.75±0.479, 1.60±0.245 and 0.80±0.374 for 150, 300 and 600 mg / kg respectively. This study indicated that the leaf of Sterculia setigera possess promising antiplasmodial activity against Plasmodium berghei. This justified the folkloric use of the plant in treatment of malaria. Thus, it could be considered as raw materials for development of yet another antimalarial agent.

Background: Cell proliferation is the hallmark of cancer disease. A number of herbal remedies made of different species of plants are used in the therapeutic management of cancer in Africa and Nigeria in particular. Preliminary anti-proliferative effects of such plants as Syzygium  guineense and Vernonia amygdalina (methanolic leaf extract),         Nauclea latifolia (ethanolic stem barks) Tapinanthus dodoneifolius (methanolic stem bark) Crossopteryx   febrifuga (Alkaloid-stem bark) Crinum zylanicum (crude extract bulb)  and their phytochemicals  constituents were evaluated.

The aim was to investigate the anti-proliferative activities of some selected herbal extractions using simple screening method of seed-growth inhibition. The phytochemical screening was carried out according to methods described by Trease and Evans and the anti-proliferative effect was investigated using the Sorghum bicolor seeds growth inhibitory assay. Phytochemical constituents such as saponins, flavonoids, tannins and cardiac glycosides were found in all the extracts.  The extracts significantly inhibited radicle length elongation of Sorghum seed in a concentration dependent manner. The IC₅₀ of  Nauclea latifolia, Vernonia  amygdalina, Tapinanthus dodoneifolius, Syzygium  guineense, Crinum zylanicum, Crossopteryx  febrifuga  were 0.001172, 0.001488, 0.004595, 0.0008549, 0.004710, 0.001836  respectively after the first 24 hours.

The extracts of these plants possesses anti-proliferative properties that can be further explored for anticancer effect.

Senna alata leaves extracts were tested against six clinical isolates of Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes. The extracts were obtained by successive extraction with hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol using Soxhlet apparatus. The results showed that the methanol extract had the highest activity. The methanol extract was further fractionated and the fractions obtained were tested against the same organisms and the results showed less activity compared to the crude extracts. The hexane extracts of S. alata was not sensitive to any of the organisms tested against, the ethyl acetate extract was active on five organisms tested against except C. albicans, While the methanol extract was active on all the organisms. The highest inhibitory zone was observed with S. aureus and Trichophyton mentagrophytes (25mm and 21mm), S. aureus was found to be most sensitive than all the organisms with MIC 6.25mg/ml, Trichophyton mentagrophytes MIC 12.5mg/ml, A. fumigatus and S. pyogenes were least sensitive with MIC 100mg/ml.  Candida albicans and Escherichia coli have MIC 25mg/ml and 12.5mg/ml. Thus S. alata is a good antimicrobial agent against bacterial and fungal pathogens that cause skin infections.