Titus I. Kanui

Medicinal plants used in the management of chronic joint pains in Machakos and Makueni counties, Kenya

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Traditional medicines play an important role in the management of chronically painful and debilitating joint conditions, particularly in the rural Africa. However, their potential use as sources of medicines has not been fully exploited. The present study was carried to find the medicinal plants traditionally used to manage chronic joint pains in Machakos and Makueni counties in Kenya. MATERIALS AND METHODS To obtain this ethnobotanical information, 30 consenting traditional herbal medical practitioners were interviewed exclusively on medicinal plant use in the management of chronic joint pains, in a pre-planned workshop. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In this survey, a total of 37 plants belonging to 32 genera and 23 families were cited as being important for treatment of chronic joint pains. The most commonly cited plant species were Pavetta crassipes K. Schum, Strychnos henningsii Gilg., Carissa spinarum L., Fagaropsis hildebrandtii (Engl.) Milve-Redh. and Zanthoxylum chalybeum Engl. Acacia mellifera (Vahl) Benth., Amaranthus albus L., Balanites glabra Mildbr. & Schltr., Grewia fallax K. Schum., Lactuca capensis, Launaea cornuta (Oliv. & Hiern) O. Jeffrey, Lippia kituiensis Vatke, Pappea capensis Eckl. & Zeyh. and Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br. are documented for the first time as being important in the management of chronic joint pains. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study show that a variety of medicinal plants are used in the management of chronic joint pains and the main mode of administration is oral.

Practices of traditional birth attendants in Machakos District, kenya.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE The aim of the study was to document TBAs practices as well as the indigenous herbal remedies they use to manage pre, intra and post partum complications in a rural Kenyan community. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross sectional study was conducted on practicing TBAs and their clients living in the study area. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and interviews. Focused group discussions were held with the TBAs to supplement the interviews and questionnaire survey. RESULTS Two hundred TBAs and 20 clients were interviewed. The majority of the TBAs were females 75% of them having attended to over 200 pregnant women over a period of 5 years and above compared to only 6% of the males. A total of 10 pregnancy related complications and symptoms including threatened abortion, labor complications, post partum hemorrhage and retained after birth were recorded. Fifty five plant species most of them belonging to Euphorbiaceae family were identified for the management of the complications. CONCLUSION Traditional Birth Attendants still have a role to play in assisting pregnant women in rural communities. Their knowledge on herbal medicines is equally important and should be preserved for posterity.

Effects of opioids in the formalin test in the Speke’s hinged tortoise (Kinixy’s spekii

Little is known about analgesia in lower vertebrates such as the Spekes hinged tortoise (Kinixys spekii), yet of late they are increasingly being adopted as pets. The effects of morphine (5, 7.5, 10 and 20 mg/kg), pethidine (10, 20, and 50 mg/kg) and naloxone (5 mg/kg) on nociception induced by the formalin test (12.5%, 100 microL) were studied in the Spekes hinged tortoise. Formalin induced a monophasic limb retraction behavioural response and its duration was recorded. The behaviour lasted for 16.4 +/- 0.8 min. Morphine (7.5, 10 and 20 mg/kg) and pethidine (20 and 50 mg/kg) induced significant decrease in the duration of limb retraction in the formalin test. The anti-nociceptive effects were naloxone (5 mg/kg) reversible. The data suggest that the formalin test is a good test for studying nociception and anti-nociception in tortoises and that the opioidergic system plays a role in the control of nociception in these animals.

Effects of dehydration and heat stress on food intake and dry matter digestibility in East African ruminants

Comparative investigations were made between wild and domestic ruminants from arid and semi-arid regions and those species from non-arid areas in an attempt to evaluate the adaptations of these ruminants in terms of the effects of heat stress and dehydration on food intake and digestibility. The effect of (a) an intermittent heat load (a daily light cycle of 12 h at 22 degrees C and 12 h at 40 degrees C) compared to 22 degrees C throughout the day and (b) dehydration level of 15% weight loss, with and without the heat load, on the intake and digestibility of a poor quality hay was investigated in the Grants gazelle, Oryx, the domestic Turkana goats, fat-tailed sheep, zebu cattle, Thomsons gazelle and wildebeest. The intermittent heat load with water available ad libitum depressed the food intake of zebu cattle and Turkana goats by more than 40%. It had no significant effect on the food intake of the other species. The Thomsons and Grants gazelle, oryx, wildebeest and fat-tailed sheep appear well adapted to withstanding a periodic heat load. Dehydration at 22 degrees C caused a marked depression on food intake of all the species investigated. Dehydration together with a heat load caused no further reduction in the food intake by the Grantss gazelle, oryx, and goats but it did cause a further reduction in the intake in the other species. The small non-domestic ruminants (i.e. Grants and Thomsons gazelle) appear much more digestive efficient than any of their domestic counterpart.

Thermal inhibition of nociceptor-driven spinal cord neurones in the cat: a possible neuronal basis for thermal analgesia

Extracellular and intracellular recordings were made from within the dorsal horn of 10 anaesthetised and gallamine triethiodide-paralysed cats. Inhibition of background and residual noxious-evoked discharge by cooling and warming was demonstrated in 7 out of 33 nociceptor-driven dorsal horn neurones. Five units were inhibited by warming of the noxious mechanical excitatory receptive field. Four units were inhibited by 100%. One unit was inhibited by 42%. Cold stimulation inhibited two units. The background and residual noxious evoked discharge was inhibited by 100%. Cooling (32-20 degrees C) excited two units; warming (32-43 degrees C) also excited two units. Heating above 43 degrees C excited 8 units; cold below 20 degrees C excited 3 units. The units inhibited by thermal stimulation may provide some neuronal basis for thermal analgesia.

The formalin test in the naked mole-rat ( Heterocephalus glaber ): analgesic effects of morphine, nefopam and paracetamol

The present experiments were initiated to study the effects of morphine, nefopam and paracetamol in the naked mole-rat, a hairless rodent that lives in subterranean colonies of up to 300, following the inability to demonstrate morphine analgesia in the hot-plate test in the rodent. The formalin test was used. Injection of 20 microliters 10% formalin produced two periods of high licking and pain behaviour, the early (0-5 min) and the late phase (15-60 min). Morphine (10 or 20 mg/kg), nefopam (10 or 20 mg/kg) and paracetamol (200 mg/kg) significantly inhibited the two phases. Paracetamol (400 mg/kg) produced significant analgesia only during the late phase. It is concluded that, unlike in the hot-plate test, it is possible to demonstrate the analgesic effects of morphine in the naked mole-rat, in the formalin test.

Morphine induces aggression but not analgesia in the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber)

1. The antinociceptive effect in the mole-rat of morphine (1, 10, 20 or 30 mg/kg) and nefopam (10 or 20 mg/kg) was studied. 2. In the hotplate test, morphine had no analgesic effect. A reduced response latency after morphine (10 and 20 mg/kg) could possibly be explained by hyperactivity and excited behaviour. 3. After morphine (10, 20 and 30 mg/kg) most of the animals died after fighting when kept in colony cages. Aggressive behaviour and death was prevented by naloxone, or by keeping the animals in single cages. 4. Nefopam (20 mg/kg) significantly increased the latency for the nociceptive response. 5. It was concluded that in the mole-rat, opioid systems in the CNS may not be involved in the regulation of nociception, but in the regulation of agonistic and motor behaviour.

Thermal inhibition of nociceptor-driven spinal cord neurones in the rat.

&NA; The inhibitory effects of cutaneous thermal stimulation have been tested on background and noxious‐evoked discharge of neurones in the lumbar spinal cord of anaesthetized rats. Inhibition of background discharges by warming and of noxiousevoked discharges by warming and/or cooling have been demonstrated. Thermal inhibition may be a neural basis for thermal analgesia.

Effects of temperature on growth, food uptake and retention time of juvenile nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus)

Abstract 1. 1. The body growth, food uptake and gastro-intestinal passage time were studied in juvenile Nile crocodiles kept at different temperature regimes. Group A was kept at 30°C, group B at 30 and 25°C for 12 hr each and group C at 25°C. 2. 2. After 14 weeks, the weight of group A increased by 18%, while both group B and C lost weight (13 and 66%, respectively). During the same period, group A and B increased their body length (6.5 and 6.6%, respectively), while group C decreased in length (5.4%). 3. 3. Group A fed at the same interval as group B, but group A ate more than the other groups. 4. 4. The gastro-intestinal passage time was shorter in group A (35 hr) than in group B (42 hr) and C (44 hr).

Stimulation of mu and delta opioid receptors induces hyperalgesia while stimulation of kappa receptors induces antinociception in the hot plate test in the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber).

The antinociceptive effects of highly selective mu (DAMGO), delta (DPDPE) and kappa (U-50488 and U-69593) opioid agonists were evaluated following intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration in the naked mole-rat. A hot plate test set at 60 degrees C was used as a nociceptive test and the latency to the stamping of the right hind paw (response latency) was used as the end-point. DAMGO (5-10 mg/kg) and DPDPE (2.5-5 mg/kg) caused a naloxone-reversible significant decrease in the mean response latency. Subcutaneous injection of naloxonazine (20 mg/kg) 24h prior to the administration of DAMGO (5 mg/kg) also blocked the reduction in the response latency observed when DAMGO was injected alone. On the contrary, U-50488 (2.5-5 mg/kg) or U-69593 (0.08 or 0.1 mg/kg) caused a naloxone-reversible significant increase in the mean response latency. These results showed that activation of mu or delta receptors caused hyperalgesia, whereas activation of kappa receptors caused antinociception in the hot plate test in naked mole-rat. This suggests that mu and delta receptors modulate thermal pain in a different way than kappa receptors in the naked mole-rat. It is not possible at the moment to point out how they modulate thermal pain as little is known about the neuropharmacology of the naked mole-rat.