Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

In vitro activity of Piper sarmentosum ethanol leaf extract against Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites

Kumareswaran Devanthran¹, Zasmy Unyah¹, Roslaini Abdul Majid¹, Wan Omar Abdullah²

¹Medical Parasitology and Entomology Unit, Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43300 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan; ²Department of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Islamic Science University of Malaysia, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For correspondence:- Wan Abdullah Email: wanomar@usim.edu.my Tel:+60122293294

Accepted: 19 October 2017 Published: 30 November 2017

Citation: Devanthran K, Unyah Z, Majid RA, Abdullah WO. In vitro activity of Piper sarmentosum ethanol leaf extract against Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites. Trop J Pharm Res 2017; 16(11):2667-2673 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v16i11.14

© 2017 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the activity of the ethanol leaf extract of Piper sarmentosum against toxoplasmosis.

Methods: An in vitro anti-Toxoplasma study was conducted using Vero cells as a host for T. gondii. Clindamycin used as the reference drug. Light microscopy technique was used to study the in situ antiparasitic activity of T. gondii. Non-toxic concentrations of the ethanol extract for Vero cells were determined by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) cell proliferation. The presence of Toxoplasma gondii was observed by Giemsa staining.

Results: The results showed that significant (p < 0.05) anti-toxoplasma activity of the ethanol extract, though lower than that of clindamycin (control drug), was achieved, with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of 12.4 and 7.2 μg/mL for the extract and reference drug, respectively. After 24 hours of exposure to the extract, the inoculated Vero cells showed lower parasitemia and no remarkable morphological changes.

Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that the ethanol extract of P. sarmentosum leaves are active against toxoplasmosis in vitro. However, further studies are required to determine the therapeutic significance of these findings in vivo

Keywords: Toxoplasma gondii, Piper sarmentosum, Vero cell, Toxoplasmosis, Antiparasitic