In vitro antiamoebic activity of cnestis ferruginea and dianthus basuticus on entamoeba histolytica trophozoites

Amoebiasis is still a great disease burden in developing countries; this may cause around 100,000 deaths every year worldwide. The appearance of the strains of parasites resistant to conventional drugs used to treat this disease compels the search for new antiparasitic agents. As a result, a growing emphasis has been placed on plants used in traditional medicine to discover new agents with antiparasitic activity. The study determined the antiamoebic activity of Cnestis ferruginea and Dianthus basuticus found in Nigeria and South Africa. The assays were performed on cultures of Entamoeba histolytica growing in the logarithmic phase that were exposed to various concentrations of the ethanol extract of D. basuticus and C. ferruginea plants. The probit of the cultures were calculated, and the IC₅₀ was determined for each extract for antiamoebic activity. The ethanol extract of both C. ferruginea and D. basuticus demonstrated a remarkable in-vitro inhibitory activity against E. histolytica trophozoites. The 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC₅₀) of C. ferruginea and D. basuticus on E. histolytica cultures were 15.07 µg/mL and 12.45 µg/mL, respectively. The results showed that D. basuticus and C. ferruginea have inhibitory activity against Entamoeba histolytica.