Study of antisickling and vasorelaxant activities and acute toxicity assessment of crude extracts of leaves of Ficus sycomorus L. (Moraceae).

The leaves of Ficus sycomorus are used in Burkina Faso folk medicine for the treatment of sickle cell disease. The present comparative study of crude extracts of leaves (decoction, macerated extract and a 95% ethanol extract) was performed with the aim to assess the efficiency of this traditional use and to determine the most active of the three extracts. Antisickling activity was assessed by the Emmel's test. Vasorelaxant effect on rat aortic rings precontracted by phenylephrine with and without N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester chloride (L-NAME) was also evaluated. The 95% ethanol extract (20 mg mL(-1)) showed the most antisickling activity on sickle erythrocytes, by inhibiting completely sickling of double heterozygote SC cells in 60 min and that of homozygote SS cells in 90 min. On the aorta this extract exhibited a significant (p<0.05) vasorelaxant activity, better than that of the other extracts, with an IC50 value of 6.86±0.13 mg mL(-1) against 18.78±0.38 and 28.56±1.27 mg mL(-1), respectively for the macerated extract and the decoction. When the aortic rings were pretreated with L-NAME, only the ethanolic extract conserved its vasorelaxant activity, up to 73% of relaxation. The acute toxicity of the decoction, assessed by intraperitoneal route and using the Litchfield and Wilcoxon method, led to an LD50 value of 1553.61 mg kg(-1) b.wt. This places the drug among those with low toxicity according to the WHO scale. These results confirm those previously obtained and provide a scientific basis supporting the use of this plant in folk medicine against sickle cell disease. They indicate the importance of Ficus sycomorus in the research of new antisickling molecules.