Contribution of Three (3) Medicinal Plants of Senegalese Flora in the Management of Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle cell disease is a major public health problem in Africa and many other areas across the world.
Many drugs that are available for treating the disease are insufficiently effective, toxic, or too
expensive. Therefore, there is a pressing need for safe, effective, and inexpensive therapeutic agents
from indigenous plants used in traditional medicines. In Senegal, a lot of plants are proposed by
traditional healers to manage the sickle cell disease, among them Combretum glutinosum, Leptadenia
hastate and Maytenus senegalensis. These plants were studied in this work. Methanolic and ethyl
acetate extracts of part of these plants were evaluated on SS sickles type to determine their antisickling
potential. Antiradical properties of methanolic extract of C glutinosum were evaluated using
the DPPH radical as oxidant. Total phenolic content of the methanol extract was determined.
Phytochemical screening of the crude extract of methanol revealed the presence of tannins, saponins,
phenols, anthracenics and flavonoids. Results show a good antisickling effect of methanol extracts
with a maximum antisickling revers of 72, 80 and 81% for respectively M senegalensis, L hastate and
C glutinosum at 10 mg/mL in 120 min incubation while ethyl acetate extract at the same conditions
has 62, 66 and 77% of sickling reverse. Arginine used as the positive reference has 67% sickling
reverse activity at 120 min of incubation. The measured IC50 were 0.65 and 0.163 for respectively the
methanol extract and ascorbic acid. Antiradical powers 0.155 and 0.62 respectively for methanol
extract and ascorbic acid were calculated from the effective concentrations. The results of this study
confirm the traditional use these three plants in the management of sickle cell disease.