Effects of methanol and aqueous extracts of Acacia xanthophloea, Strychnos heninningsii and Microglossa pyrifolia on Immunoglobin E using asthma induced mice model

Abstract

Background: The increasing prevalence of asthma in developing countries during the last decade continues to represent a significant public health problem, causing both economic and social burdens. It remains an area of considerable unmet medical need which affects 235–330 million and kills about 300,000 people worldwide. Low and middle income countries make up more than 80% of the mortality and the prevalence of Asthma in Kenya is 15.8%.Treatment of asthma still remains far from being satisfactory, which is severely limited by undesirable adverse effect and high cost. Methanol and aqueous extracts of Acacia xanthophloea, Strychnos heninningsii and Microglossa pyrifolia have shown efficacy on antimicrobial and antioxidant properties but have not been investigated for anti-asthmatic activities. Objectives: This study was aimed at evaluating the anti-asthmatic activities of extracts of Acacia xanthophloea, Strychnos heninningsii and Microglossa pyrifolia on asthma induced mice. Materials and Methods: Female Swiss Albino mice aged 8weeks old and weighing 20 +/- 2g, were asthma induced by using 1% Ovalbumin (grade VI; Sigma, Steinheim, Germany) followed by treatment using methanol and water extracts of A xanthophloea, S heninningsii and M pyrifolia in concentrations of 50, 100 and 200mg/kg body weight except for positive control group of mice which was induced and not treated. Standard reference drug control group was given 10mg/kg Prednisolone. After treatment, serum total Immunoglobin E (IgE) levels were determine using mouse OVA specific IgE Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) (BioLegend).Cytotoxicity screening of the plant extracts was also done using Vero E6 cells and MTT dye. Data were analyzed and expressed as Means and Standard Deviation and the parametric data was statistically analyzed using one way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed with unpaired student’s t-test at p-value < 0.001. Results: The results showed that the extracts were able to reduce the serum total IgE levels by upto100% in reference to the positive control. Conclusion: The extracts tested have the ability to reduce IgE levels in an asthmatic attack. The results can to be used for future possible large scale implementation in an effort to solve the burden of asthma as well as the current anti-asthmatic drug side effects.

Keywords: Anti-asthma, Immunoglobin E, Acacia. xanthophloea, Strychnos heninningsii, Microglossa pyrifolia