The in vitro antisickling and antioxidant effects of aqueous extracts Zanthoxyllum heitzii on sickle cell disorder.

Background: Several plant extracts from Rutaceae family are currently used to the management of sickle cell disorder (SCD) in the African. Few reports have shown that extracts from Zanthoxyllum or Fagara genus demonstrated anti-sickling property. This study investigates the in vitro antisickling and antioxidant properties of extracts from Zanthoxyllum heitzii.

Methods: The sickling of red blood cells (RBCs) was induced using sodium metabisulfite (2%) followed by treatment with extracts at different concentrations. The osmotic fragility tests permits to explore the effect of Z. heitzii extracts on haemoglobin S solubility and sickle cells membrane stability. For each extract, qualitative phytochemical tests were used to identify the presence of alkaloids, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, glycosides and phenols, while some quantitative methods such as Folin, Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) and diphenyl 1, 2 picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) were used to determine the antioxidant potential of these extracts.

Results: Sodium metabisulphite increased the sickling of RBCs from 29.62 to 55.46% during 2 h. Treatment of sickling cells with extracts at different concentrations showed that a decrease of the percentage of sickling cells was found in both induced and non induced sickling cells. The fruits extract of Z. heitzii demonstrated the best anti-sickling property. The same extract at 250 μg/mL showed the best membrane cell stability compared to others. All the extracts revealed an antioxidant and anti-radical activities although lesser compared to the standard.

Conclusion: The fruit extract of Z. Heitzii demonstrated the most significant antisickling effect with a potential for use in the clinical management of SCD.