Antiprotozoal Activity of Some Medicinal Plants against Entamoeba histolytica, the Causative Agent of Amoebiasis
Charles Oluwaseun Adetunji, Oyetunde T. Oyeyemi
Abstract
The prevalence of amoebiasis disease caused by Entamoeba histolytica has been highlighted as one of the major threats to human well-being and key public health challenges globally, specifically in developing countries. In recent times, there have been serious concerns regarding the use of some mainstay drugs used for the management of amoebiasis owing to development of resistance by the causal organism coupled with numerous side effects. This has necessitated the need to search for alternative drugs. The utilization of medicinal plants will be a sustainable approach toward the management of this disease. This chapter intends to throw more insight into some medicinal plants-derived lead compounds that could serve as alternative sources of future chemotherapies for amoebiasis. Also, we discussed some of the techniques used for the identification of some phytochemicals that demonstrate antiprotozoal activity and their structural elucidation using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and Thin layer chromatography (TLC). We have identified some of the previous assays used during in vitro and in vivo antiprotozoal activity from different plant extracts. More detailed and mechanistic studies are recommended to understand the antiprotozoal potentials of medicinal plants.