Bulus T, Ahmed AB, Aboi TY and Danbaki DA
Background: In vitro cultivation of salivarian species of trypanosomes requires the use of CO2-incubator, expensive equipment which relies solely on steady electricity supply. A simple culture system which uses glass desiccator gassed with laboratory-prepared carbon dioxide (5CG-Desiccator) was found to effectively sustain trypanosomes growth in vitro and so the technique was recommended for in vitro antitrypanosomal screening of compounds and plant extracts. This paper reports an attempt to evaluate the utility of this system for the determination of IC50, IC90 values of ethanolic extracts from some medicinal plants against Trypanosoma brucei brucei using Diminazine Aceturate (DA) as standard trypanocide.
Methods findings: Parasites were grown in Eagle’s Medium in the presence of varying concentrations of each plant extract in a 96-well micro-titer plate using 5CGDesiccator culture method. IC50 and IC90 values were extrapolated from two graphical approaches. Comparative analysis of IC90 values showed that extracts from four plants (Cymbopogon spp, Moringa oleifera, Vernonia amygdalina and Allium sativum) had IC90 values less than 200 g/ml, five (Azadirachta indica, Khaya senegalensis, Carica papaya, Eucalyptus spp and Aloe vera) had values between 200 g/ml and 1000 g/ml and one (Mitracarpus scaber) had value greater than 1000 g/ml.
Conclusion: The results obtained using two different approaches permitted the comparative assessment of the trypanocidal potentials of the extracts. Suggestions on practical ways to improve this technique for IC50 determination of values of synthetic and plant-derived compounds/fractions were discussed.
