{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.03052995391705069, 'fraction_numerical': 0.01728110599078341, 'mean_word_length': 5.052264808362369, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Anti-sickling Efficacy of Methanolic Extract of Medicinal Plants from Gwagwalada, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND
Medicinal plants are used in many rural communities in Abuja for the management of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) without any scientific evidence to validate the effectiveness of such phytomedicines. The aim of this study is to investigate the anti-sickling efficacy of some medicinal plants used by rural communities in Gwagwalada, Abuja, for management of SCD.


METHODS
Phytochemical screening and mineral analysis were carried out. Anti-sickling activity of the extracts was evaluated by monitoring (within 150 minutes) the percentage reduction in sickle red cells, after incubating different doses of the methanolic extracts with sickled red blood cells induced with 2% sodium metabisulphite. Parahydoxybenzoic acid (PHBA) and normal saline was used as positive and negative control respectively.


RESULTS
Phytochemical screening of the methanolic extracts revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, phenols and terpenoids. Significant anti-sickling activity was observed in two, out of the four plant extracts tested. Pavetta crassipes and Ziziphus mauritiana at the high dose of 0.5mg/ml caused a significant reduction in percentage of sickle red cells from 44.0% to 15.3% (PC) and 44.9% to 20.5% (ZM) respectively at 150 minutes. This is comparable to the control sample (PHBA) where sickle red cells reduced from 43.9% to 14.6 % at 150 minutes.


CONCLUSION
The results of this study showed that methanolic extract of P. crassipes and Z. mauritiana possess anti-sickling activity. This provides a scientific basis for their use as antisickling phytomedicine and makes further research into their mechanism of action necessary.