Comparative studies on antisickling properties of brown and green leaves of < em > Carica papaya < /em > Linn. (Caricaceae)

This study was aimed at verifying the antisickling activity of the crude aqueous extract, crude methanol extract and fractions of dried brown and green leaves ofCarica papaya.The method used was the sickle cell haemoglobin polymerization inhibition experimentmeasured with the Ultra Violet (UV) spectrophotometer. Sodium metabisulphite was used as a deoxygenating agent while isotonic saline (0.9% NaCl) was used as the negative control and phenylalanine as a positive control. The results obtained showed that crude aqueous extracts of both the green and brown leaves exhibited high level of inhibition of sickled haemoglobin (HbSS) polymerization at 200 mg/ml (97.76% and 93.25% ), 100 mg/ml (95.89% and 97.93%) also, 50 mg/ml (97.89% and 95.84%) respectively which compared favourably and significantly (p<0.05) with that of phenylalanine.The summary of the antisickling activity of the crude extracts and fractions of both the green leaves and brown leaves ofC. papaya is Crude aqueous>Crude aqueous methanol> Butanol>Chloroform>Ethyl acetate>Aqueous. This study showed that the extracts exhibited the potential of inhibiting polymerization of sickle cell haemoglobin thus would be beneficial in the management of sickle cell disease.
Source: International Journal of Phytomedicine - Category: Science Authors: Source Type: research