The Anti-sickling and Pharmacognostic evaluation of Tafafia – A herbal Remedy used in Management of Sickle Cell in Nigeria*

Abstract

The antisickling activity of the methanol extract of a herbal remedy Tafafia used in the clinical management of 
sickle cell disease in Jos area, Nigeria and a Pharmacognostic evaluation of its herbal content have been examined. Preliminary 
phytochemical examination of the extract showed the presence of alkaloids, saponins and tannins. Anthraquinones and other 
secondary metabolites were completely absent. Evaluation of the anti-sickling activity involved the use of both positive (phydroxybenzoic acid-5µg/ml) and negative control (normal saline) for each set of experiments aimed at the inhibition of 
sodium metabisulphite – induced sickling of the HbSS red blood cells obtained from confirmed non-crisis state sickle cell 
patient. The crude methanol extract was tested at four concentrations (0.1 µg/ml - 0.8 µg/ml). The antisickling evaluation of 
the crude methanol extract of Tafafia revealed a concentration – dependent activity. A concentration of the extract at 0.8 µg/ml 
gave 80.1% inhibition of sickling after 90 mins incubation and normal saline (negative control) gave 36.0% inhibition in the 
same period. The positive control, p-hydroxybenzoic acid; exhibited an incubation of 62.0% after an incubation period of 45 
mins. Tafafia, has shown positive antisickling properties and confirms clinical use in Jos area of Nigeria for sickle cell 
aneamia.