EVALUATION OF MOLLUSCICIDAL ACTIVITIES OF CRUDE AND ALKALOIDAL FRACTION OF ANOGEISSUS LEIOCARPUS (AFRICAN BITCH) AND PSEUDOCEDRELA KOTSCHYI (DRY ZONE CEDAR) ON VECTOR OF SCHISTOSOMIASIS

ABSTRACT

Over the years, the use of plant-based molluscicides has received substantial consideration in the satisfaction for cost-effective alternatives to chemotherapy and synthetic molluscicides in schistosomiasis control. This study was aimed at evaluating the molluscicidal potentials of crude and Alkaloidal fractions of Anogeissus leiocarpus and Pseudocedrela kostchyi against vector of schistosomiasis. Both aqueous and methanol crude extracts of the plants were tested for the presence of bioactive metabolites. Ten snails each was exposed to different concentrations (10 mg/L, 20 mg/L, 40 mg/L, 80 mg/L, 160 mg/L, 200 mg/L and 300 mg/L) of aqueous, methanol and alkaloid extracts of Anogeissus leiocarpus and Pseudocedrela kostchyi for the interval of 40 minutes, 24 hours and 72 hours respectively. Fifty other snails were also exposed to 200 mL of distilled water for 24 hours as control. The results indicated the presence of phytochemicals such as flavonoid, Tannis, Saponins, Alkaloids and terpenoids in both aqueous and methanol extract of both plants. Steroid was only present in methanol extract. Cardia glycoside was absent in aqueous extract of the extracts. The results showed dose dependent activities with highest dose having a significant (P<0.05) highest snail mortality. The two plants extracts showed appreciable molluscicidal efficacies against the two exposed snail species with LC50 of 157.29, 88.56, and 240.03mg/L for aqueous, methanol and Alkaloidal fraction of A. leiocarpus against B. pfeifferi and LC50 of 128.73, 78.07 and 344.02mg/L for P. koschyi respectively. There was a significant decrease in the level of Alamine transaminase (ALT) and Aspartate triaminase (AST) in the tissue of the exposed snail compared to the control. Based on the findings of this study, there is need to examine the Histoachitecture of the exposed snail in other to ascertain the observed mechanism of action found in the alteration of the tissue enzymes.