BOTANICAL STUDY, ANTIPARASITIC ACTIVITY ON TOXOPLASMA GONDII AND CYTOTOXICITY OF AGERATUM CONYZOIDES AND SYNEDRELLA NODIFLORA, TWO MEDICINAL ASTERACEAE

Camara Djeneb, Coulibaly Kiyinlma, Yapi Adon Basile*, Bene Kouadio and Zirihi Guédé Noël

ABSTRACT

In order to detect new plants that can treat toxoplasmosis, we investigated two plants of the Ivorian pharmacopoeia: Ageratum conyzoides and Synedrella nodiflora. Due to their morphological look alike, these two plants are very often confused on the markets by mistaken one for the other in Abidjan. In our study we made a botanical description of each plant, then we compared their cellular toxicity as well as their anti-parasitic activity on Toxoplasma gondii. We noticed that there are significant physiognomic differences between A. conyzoides and S. nodiflora. A. conyzoides is slightly larger than S. nodiflora, and its base is strongly colored in red. The leaves of both plants are approximately the same size and oval shape. The leaves of A. conyzoides are totally toothed and with bristles on both sides, those of S. nodiflora are toothed only on the upper 2/3 and have no bristles on the back. And finally, the flowers of A. conyzoides are white to blue-purple and those of S. nodiflora are yellow. A. conyzoides is not toxic to human HFF cells that do not divide. On the other hand, when the cells are in proliferation, it is found that at concentrations of plant extract ≥ 0.5 mg/ml there is a decrease in cell viability of more than 50%. S. nodiflora has a dose-dependent toxicity on human cells, all HFF cells died at the maximum dose of 1 mg/ml. Due to the toxicity of S. nodiflora on HFF cells, the test on T. gondii tests could not be performed. On the other hand we found that A. conyzoides acts on the parasite with an IC50 of about 0.41 mg/ml. Therefore, by this work, the use of A. conyzoides in traditional medicine is justified with this scientific basis.

Keywords: Antitoxoplasmosis activity, Ethnobotanical surveys, Ivory Coast, Medicinal plants, Toxicity.