The Associate Program on Ethnobiology, Socio-Economic Value Assessment and Community Based Conservation
Abstract
In collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution BDCP conducted training courses in Nigeria and Cameroon on biodiversity assessment and monitoring and an adaptive management workshop in Nigeria. Four I ha biodiversity plots were also established. In the drug discovery component sixty plant extracts were processed and 12 compounds isolated from plants need in African traditional medicine as antimalaria. The following plants were bulk-extracted at InterCEDD Nsukka, Nigeria: Aspilia Africana, Chamaecrista Mimosoides, Combretum Dulchipetalum, Enantia Chlorontha and Pleiocarpa Pycnantha to enable further fractionations at WRAIR. Sixty-nine plant extracts were also processed and tested for potential activity against microorganisms and for activity in the in the brine shrimp lethality assay. Twelve extracts showed very significant activities against gram-positive and/or gram-negative bacteria and 2 of the extracts showed antifungal activities. Extracts 11 plants identified through ethnobotanical information were tested for their CNS activity using specific radio ligand binding assays. Extracts were also processed for testing against African topanosomes, leishmaniasis, HIV, Cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis and cancer. The economic value assessment of selected species is continuing. The analysis of the ethnobotanical data from Cameroon has been completed and the final report will be published in a usable CD format.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA407223
Entities
People
- Maurice M. Iwu