Abstract:
Previous studies have shown that plants belonging to the family
Cucurbitaceae exhibit anthelmintic properties due to the amino acid
cucurbitacin. In this study, two members of family Cucurbitaceae,
Citrullus vulgaris (L.) Schrad. (watermelon) and Cucumis sativus L
(cucumber), were used and their lethal dose (LDso) were determined.
Watermelon and cucumber seeds were extracted with ethanol followed by
rotary evaporator and water bath. Four treatments for each of the two
methods were then set-up. These were composed of a negative control
(200 ml BaMs), a positive control (pyrantel pamoate) with concentrations
of 0.31 mg/ml, 0.23 mg/ml, 0.16mg/ml, 0.08 mg/ml, watermelon seeds
crude extract and cucumber seeds crude extract. The concentrations of
crude extracts of both watermelon and cucumber seeds are 83.33 mg/ml,
66.67 mg/ml, 50 mg/ml and 33.33 mg/ml. Changes in the behavior of the
worms like agitation or faster body movements and stiffness of the bodies
were observed. Mortality was recorded after 36 hours. The study found
that there is no mortality for the treatments using rotary evaporator as the
extraction method. In the water bath method however, worm mortality
increased as concentration of seed extracts increased. Computed LDso
values for the treatments using water bath were 5833424 mg/ml for
watermelon and 74.16277 mg/ml for cucumber. It was also observed for
both methods that for some worms, paralytic, stiff-like properties were
exhibited, thus displaying a positive response to the treatment sensitivity
test. These findings were supported by a histological study that showed
apparent structural differences in the muscles of the worms. These
demonstrated the toxicity of the seed extracts on Ascaris suum.
