The antileishmanial activity of extracts of
Warburgia Ugandensis
Spraque (Canellaceae), a
known traditional therapy in Kenya was evaluated
in vivo. Treatment of infected BALB/c mice with
W. ugandensis extracts orally resulted in a reduction of the size of lesions compared to the untreated
control. The lesion sizes differed significantly for the four extracts (p=0.039) compared to the untreated
control. For mice treated by intraperitoneal injection, the lesion sizes increased initially for the hexane,
dichloromethane and ethyl acetate extracts and healed by day 42. The lesion sizes for mice treated
with methanol increased steadily from 2.47mm to 3.57mm. The parasitic burden was significantly
higher (p<0.001) in mice treated with methanol extracts and PBS compared to those treated with
hexane, dichloromethane and ethyl acetate. This study demonstrated the antileishmanial potential of
extracts of
W. ugandensis.
