Snakebite is a neglected public health problem in most of the countries in Africa. Its means of treatment is parenteral administration of serum-based antivenins. But due to the limitations of these antivenins, snakebite victims mostly depend on herbal antidotes. Hence, this research was designed to screen the antisnake venom activity of some medicinal plants on mixed venoms of Naja nigricollis, Echis ocellatus and Bitis arietans using Albino rats’ model. Information on the medicinal plants used for the treatment of snakebite envenomation in Zuru Local Government Area was obtained through ethnobotanical survey. Four (4) most cited plants; Parkia biglobosa stem-bark, Calotropis procera root, Sterculia setigera stem-bark and Bauhinia rufescens seed were selected and screened against the venom-induced lethal effect on albino rats. Albino rats of both sexes were randomly divided into six (6) groups of five (5) rats each and used for the antivenom screening of each plant methanol extract. Group 1 received distilled water. Groups 2, 3 and 4 received 0.8mg/kg b. wt. of the venom mixture, but 3 and 4 were treated with 200 and 400 mg/kg b. wt. of an extract respectively. Group 5 received 400mg/kg b. wt. of an extract only. Finally, group 6 received 0.8mg/kg b. wt. of the venom mixture and treated with standard antivenin. The plants’ extracts exhibited antivenom activities with varying degrees of efficacy. At 400mg/kg b. wt. of extract, the recorded mean animal survival times were 18.52 ± 1.50h, 14.04 ± 4.79h, 18.66 ± 4.32h and 5.96 ± 2.79h for C. procera root, P. biglobosa stem-bark, B. rufescens seed and S. setigera stem-bark extracts respectively. Thus, B. rufescens methanol seed extract was the most potent antivenom agent. These findings suggest that, the selected plants have potent antivenom activity on the selected snake venoms and can serve as lead for the development of safe, readily available and affordable antivenoms that can substitute the use of serum-based antivenins.

Introduction: The market of food supplements is in full expansion, this evolution is due to several factors in particular, nutritional deficiencies, sedentary, lifestyle and lower energy needs. Hence the interest in studying the consumer profiles of these products. Subjects and methods: This is a prospective study conducted over a period of eight months; subjects are recruited at random during our training, on the internet and during medical caravans whose objective is to assess the knowledge and practices of Moroccans so that the doctor can find concrete answers usable during his medical practice. Results: 570 subjects were included, of which 316 subjects (57.1%) declared having already consumed food supplements. The study revealed the female predominance among consumers, as well as the predominance of the 20-30 year age group. Among the reasons for consumption, filling a deficiency comes first with (42.6%), improved a particular function second with (36.4%) and then treating an illness. For the essential expectations of consumers; fighting fatigue and fighting overweight come first with 34.8% and 14.1% respectively. The consumption of CA is most often done on the advice of a doctor with (46.7%) and the pharmacy remains the main distribution channel with (78.7%). Discussion and Conclusion: The regulatory framework for the marketing in Morocco of food supplements requires only the obtaining of a registration certificate. It is thus, the duty of each health professional to judge the benefit - risk of advising or prescribing a food supplement given the risks to which any consumer may be exposed.

Objective: The present study was designed to evaluate the acute and chronic behavioral and antidepressant effects of aqueous extracts of GS leaves in standardized rats models of depression. Materials and Methods: Aqueous extracts of GS leaves were prepared, and phytoconstituents were determined using appropriate chemical analytical methods. Animals were divided into five groups: The control group received vehicle (saline water 10ml/rat). Amitriptyline (20mg/kg b.w., IP) was used as the positive control or standard group while the treated rats received GS (100, 200, and 400mg/kg body weight i.p). In the acute treatment study, a single dose was administered 30 min prior to testing. For the chronic treatment study, a single dose was administered daily for 14 days. In the chronic dose study, the behaviors of all groups were assessed for antidepressant activity 30 min after the last treatment dose on the 14th day. Different standardized depression models were used for behavioral tests to evaluate the antidepressant activity, such as forced swim test (FST), and tail suspension test (TST) test. Results: The preliminary pharmacological screening with acute dosing exhibited the antidepressant activity of GS, but its antidepressant activity was more enhanced after repeated dosing. In comparison with the acute studies, chronic dose studies displayed a significant antidepressant manifestation in the behavioral patterns when compared to the vehicle controls. Conclusion: The results obtained in this study suggest that aqueous extracts of GS may possess an antidepressant activity.