African medicinal plants with anthelmintic properties against selected zoonotic helminths: a scoping review

E. M. Megnigueu; S. Simsek; F. Celik; S. F. Kouam; D. Ndjonka

doi:10.2478/helm-2025-0037

Figures & Tables

PRISMA-ScR flow diagram illustrating the study selection process. The diagram summarizes the number of records identified, screened, excluded, and finally retained for analysis according to the PRISMA-ScR guidelines.

Distribution of research articles on the anthelmintic activity of indigenous African plants by country. The bar chart illustrates the number of studies conducted in each country, highlighting regional disparities in research output across the continent.

Geographic distribution of African medicinal plant studies: Ethnobotanical () data focus on cestodes and trematodes, while pharmacological studies investigate activity against Echinococcus granulosus (), Taenia solium (), and Fasciola hepatica (). The map highlights regions with concentrated research efforts, illustrating disparities in scientific documentation and the therapeutic potential of traditional plant species across the continent.

African medicinal plants with in vitro activity against Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces_

Family	Botanical name	Part used	Extract	Phytochemical component	Minimal effective concentration	Exposure (Time min)	Scolicidal activity (%)	Country	References
Amaranthaceae	Atriplex halimus L.	Leaves	Aqueous	Polyphenol/Flavonoid	150 mg/ml	60	100	Algeria	Benmarce et al., 2024a
				Phenolic compound (ferulic acid, carboxylic acid)	60 mg/ml	120	99.36	Algeria	Bouaziz et al., 2021
				Alkaloids (Berberine) Flavonoid
Lythraceae	Lawsonia inermis L.	Leaves	Aqueous	N/A	12.5 % w/v	10	100	Sudan	Elowni et al., 2020
Lamiaceae	Thymus fontanesii de Noé	Leaves	Essential oil	Carvacrol (59.68 %)	9.25 mg/ml	5	100	Algeria	Selles et al., 2024
				γ-terpinene (13.72 %)
				p-cymene (12.10 %)
	Thymus pallescens de Noé	Leaves	Essential oil	Carvacrol (57.37 %)	9.1 mg/ml	5	100	Algeria	Kadari et al., 2025
				Terpinene (14.09 %)
				P-cymene (10.64 %)
	Thymus capitatus (L.) Hoffmanns. & Link	Leaves	Essential oil	Carvacrol (82.4 %)	2 mg/ml	5	100	Tunisia	Hizem et al., 2020
	Thymus capitatus (L.) Hoffmanns. & Link	Leaves	Essential oil	P-cymene (5.3 %)	2 mg/ml	5	100	Tunisia	Hizem et al., 2020
	Thymus vulgaris L.	Aerial parts	Alcoholic	Thymol (65.4)	2.5 mg/ml	103.680	100	Egypt	Yones et al., 2011
				Carvacrol (5.4)
				Borneol (0.7)
	Salvia officinalis L.	Aerial parts	Alcoholic	Menthol Apigenin-7-O-glucoside	2.5 mg/ml	8.640	100	Egypt	Yones et al., 2011
Malvaceae	Hibiscus sabdariffa L.	Calyces	Aqueous	N/A	12.5 % w/v	10	100	Sudan	Elowni et al., 2020
Myrtaceae	Myrtus communis L.	Leaves	Aqueous	Polyphenol/Flavonoid	100 mg/ml	60	100	Algeria	Benmarce et al., 2024b
			Ethanolic	Polyphenol/Flavonoid	100 mg/ml	5	98.8	Algeria	Benmarce et al., 2024b
	Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. & L.M. Perry	Flower buds	Essential oil	Eugenol (78.72 %)	0.015 mg/ml	5	100	Algeria	Selles et al., 2020
				β-Caryophyllene (8.82 %)
				Eugenyl acetate (8.74 %)
Punicaceae	Punica granatum L.	Fruit/peel	Aqueous	N/A	16 mg/ml	2880	100	Algeria	Labsi et al., 2016
Punicaceae		Peel	Hydroalcoholic	N/A	100 mg/ml	120	89.7	Egypt	EL-Bahy et al., 2019
Ranunculaceae	Nigella sativa L.	Seed	Essential oil	N/A	100 mg/ml	120	100	Egypt	EL-Bahy et al., 2019
Rutaceae	Citrus limon (L.) Osbeck	Fruits	Aqueous	N/A	0.5 ml	5	99.46	Algeria	Mohammed & Mokhtrari, 2019
Zingiberaceae	Zingiber officinale Roscoe	Rhizome	Aqueous	[6]-gingerol	0.001 mg/ml	1440	51.80	Algeria	Amri & Touil-Boukoffa, 2016

In vivo efficacy of African medicinal plants against helminths of zoonotic relevance_

Parasite	Family	Botanical Name	Part used	Extract	Animal Model	Dose	Time (Weeks)	Outcome result	Country	References
Echinococcus granulosus	Amaryllidaceae	Allium sativum L.	Whole garlic cloves	Aqueous	Mice (Swiss albino)	50 mg/kg	8	Serum nitric oxide levels and pathological changes in liver parenchyma was assessed to reflect the effect of oral administration of A. sativum on cystic echinococcosis.	Egypt	Ali et al., 2016
	Punicaceae	Punica granatum L.	Fruit peel	Aqueous	Mice (Swiss albino)	650 mg/kg	8	63.08% cyst growth inhibition; cyst weight reduction; improved liver histology; ↓ NO, TNF-α, iNOS, NF-κB, CD68; reduced macrophage infiltration and fibrosis	Algeria	Labsi et al., 2016
	Punicaceae	P. granatum L.	Peel	Aqueous	Mice (Swiss albino)	650 mg/kg	8	The association of ABZ and PGE enhanced a significant reduction of the rate of hydatid cyst growth inhibition in comparison to the infected or ABZ-treated groups	Algeria	Labsi et al., 2019
	Ranunculaceae	Nigella sativa L.	Oil	Aqueous	Mice (Swiss albino)	1.14 mg/kg	8	Cysts were reduced in size and germinal layer of cysts lost their multicellular structure feature.	Egypt	Nagati et al., 2020
Fasciola hepatica	Apiacea	Cuminum cyminum L.	Roots	Mixture	Donkeys	1200 mg/kg	4	Dose-dependent reduction in helminth egg counts; improved hematological and serum protein profiles; no liver/kidney toxicity; significant weight gain at highest dose.	Egypt	Al-Hoshani et al., 2024
		Trachyspermum ammi (L.) Sprague
		Foeniculum vulgare Mill.
		Pimpella anisun L.
	Moringaceae	Moringa oleifera Lam.	Seeds	Methanol	Rabbits	150 mg/kg	3 days	Significantly reduced fecal egg counts, No flukes were recovered at necropsy	Egypt	Kandil et al., 2018
Taenia solium	Zygophyllaceae	Balanite aegyptiaca (L.) Delile	Fruits	Methanol	Mice BALB/c	9 mg/kg	16	88% reduction of cyst	Egypt	Kandil et al., 2024
	Moringaceae	Moringa oleifera Lam.	Seeds	Methanol	Mice BALB/c	150 mg/kg	16	72.23% reduction of cyst	Egypt	Kandil et al., 2024
	Amaranthaceae	Hildebrandtii sericocomopsis Schinz	Roots	Powder	Pigs naturally infected by T. solium cysticerci	8 g	16	significant reduction of cyst numbers	Tanzania	Kabululu & Boa, 2021
	Apocynaceae	Carissa edulis (Forssk.) Vahl		Mixture powder		4 g Each	16	No difference was observed between the control and the concoction	Tanzania	Kabululu & Boa, 2021
	Olacaceae	Ximenia americana L.		Mixture powder		4 g Each	16		Tanzania	Kabululu & Boa, 2021

Medicinal plants evaluated in vitro against Taenia solium_

Family	Scientific name	Part used	Extract	Phytochemical compound	Outcome of assay	Country	References
Asclepiadaceae	Calotropis procera (Aiton) W.T. Aiton	Roots	Methanol	Alkaloids, Flavonoids	At 25 – 50 mg/ml, caused paralysis at 6 min, and death at 8.75 min;	Nigeria	Babaloba & Umar, 2021
Asclepiadaceae	Calotropis procera (Aiton) W.T. Aiton	Roots	Petroleum ether	Alkaloids, tannins	Paralysis in 11 min and death in 20 min	Nigeria	Babaloba & Umar, 2021
Fabaceae	Berlinia confusa Hoyle	Stem Bark	Ethyl acetate	1-O-docosanoyl-sn-glyceride	Extracts and isolated compounds exhibited concentration-dependent activity; at 10 – 100 mg/ml, caused death of adult worms after 180 min of exposure.	Nigeria	Lasisi & Idowu, 2014
				1-O-(13-methyltetradecanoyl)
				1-O-pentadecanoyl-sn-glycerol
				Betulinic acid
				Sitosteryl-β-D-glucoside
Malvaceae	Sida acuta Burm.f.	Leaves	Methanol	Alkaloid, flavonoid	Exhibited 100 % mortality worms at 100 mg/ml after 10 min	Nigeria	Usman et al., 2023
Malvaceae	Sida acuta Burm.f.	Leaves	Ethyl acetate	Alkaloid, flavonoid	Exhibited 100 % mortality worms at 100 mg/ml after 25 min	Nigeria	Usman et al., 2023
Moringaceae	Moringa oleifera Lam.	Leaves	Aqueous	Flavonoid, tannins	15 % evagination rate at 0.6 mg/μL after 6 h	Zambia	Hatwiko et al., 2025
Lamiaceae	Vitex doniana Sweet	Bark	Hydroethanolic	N/A	64 % metacestodes evagination at 50 μg/ml	Zambia	Musale et al., 2023
Phyllanthaceae	Flueggea virosa (Roxb. ex Willd.) Royle	Root bark	Hydroethanolic	N/A	52 % metacestodes evagination at 50 μg/ml	Zambia	Musale et al., 2023
Sapindaceae	Dimocarpus longan Lour.	Leaves	Ethanolic	Flavonoids, tannins Saponins	Strong paralytic but, weaker lethal effects in adult at 100 mg/ml	Uganda	Odoma et al., 2025
Zingiberaceae	Aframomum melegueta K. Schum.	Seed	Hydroethanolic	Alkaloids, terpenoid	Exhibited larvicidal effect at 20 mg/ml after 4h	Togo	Duti et al., 2025
Annonaceae	Xylopia aethiopica (Dunal) A. Rich.	Fruits	Hydroethanolic	Alkaloids, terpenoid	100 % larvicidal effect at 20 mg/ml after 4h	Togo	Duti et al., 2025
Euphorbiaceae	Euphorbia hirta L.	Leaves	Methanol	Alkaloid, Saponin β-Amyrin	10 – 50 mg/ml caused dose- and time-dependent inhibition of worm’s viability.	Nigeria	Ogunmefun et al., 2023
Euphorbiaceae	Euphorbia hirta L.	Leaves	Hexane	Alkaloid, Saponin β-Amyrin	Paralysis in 15 min and death in 45 min	Nigeria	Ogunmefun et al., 2023
Rubiaceae	Nauclea latifolia Sm.	Leaves	Methanol	Flavonoid Benzene-1,2,4-trimethyl	At 10–50 mg/ml, Paralysis 8 mim, death in 42 min	Nigeria	Ogunmefun et al., 2023
Rubiaceae	Nauclea latifolia Sm.	Leaves	Hexane	Flavonoid Benzene-1,2,4-trimethyl	Paralysis in 13 min, death in 40 min	Nigeria	Ogunmefun et al., 2023
Euphorbiaceae	Acalypha wilkesiana Müll.Arg.	Leaves	Ethyl acetate	N/A	Paralysis of adult worms in 1 min, death in 2 min, at 100 mg/ml significantly more anthelmintic than piperazine citrate	Nigeria	Onocha & Olusanya, 2010

Medicinal plants evaluated in vitro against Fasciola hepatica

Family	Plant species	Part used	Extract	Phytochemical Component	Outcome of assay	Country	References
Apiaceae	Foeniculum vulgare Mill.	Stem	Ethanolic	N/A	Exhibited 90 % ovicidal effect after 15 days of exposure to a 20 % concentration	South Africa	Ahmed et al., 2024
Apocynaceae	Calotropis procera (Aiton) W.T. Aiton	Leaves	Ethanolic	N/A	At a 100 mg/ml concentration, showed larvicidal activity with LC₅₀ = 4.61 mg/ml after 26.67 min	Nigeria	Okeke et al., 2023
Asparagaceae	Sansevieria trifasciata Prain	Leaves	Ethanolic	Flavonoids, Tannins	death of adult worm at 200 mg/ml after 97.83 min	Rwanda	Karomo & Rwai, 2016
Asteraceae	Artemisia afra Jacq. ex Willd.	Stem	Ethanolic	N/A	Exhibited 60 % ovicidal effect after 15 days of exposure to a 20 % concentration	South Africa	Ahmed et al., 2024
Bromeliaceae	Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.	Leaves	Ethanolic	N/A	80 % ovicidal effects at 5 %concentration after 15 days	South Africa	Ahmed et al., 2024
Capparaceae	Capparis spinosa L.	Aerial parts	Ethyl acetate	Sterols, Carotenoids, Triterpenoids	After 48 h, strong larvicidal activity with deterioration rates between 30.39 % and 91.52 % concentration	Tunisia	Njeh et al., 2015
Rubiaceae	Morinda lucida Benth	Leaves	Ethanolic	N/A	LC₅₀ = 24 mg/ml after 40 min	Nigeria	Okeke et al., 2023
Solanaceae	Solanum nigrum L.	Unripe fruit	Metanolic	N/A	65.6 % deterioration of rediae 77.8 % deterioration of cercariae 27.6 % deterioration of intraredial germinal masses after 48 h exposure time	Tunisia	Hammami & Ayadi, 2008
	Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav.	Seeds	Methanolic	Alkaloid /Saponin	LC₅₀ =0.94 mg/l after 48 h	Tunisia	Njeh et al., 2015
	Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav.	Seeds	Methanolic	β-solamarine	LC₅₀ = 0.49 mg/l after 48 h	Tunisia	Njeh et al., 2015
Fabaceae	Dalbergiella welwitschia (Baker) Baker f.	Leaves	Methanolic	N/A	paralysis of adult worm in 12.86 min, death in 21.29 min.	Nigeria	Ofodile et al., 2019
			Aqueous	N/A	paralysis of adult worm in 10.79 min, death in 19.47 min significantly more anthelmintic than albendazole.	Nigeria	Ofodile et al., 2019
			Methanolic	Alkaloid, Saponin, tannins	Caused death of adult worm at 100 mg/ml concentration between 36 – 81 min	Nigeria	Olusegun et al., 2013
	Berlinia confusa Hoyle	Stem Bark	Ethyl acetate	1-O-docosanoyl-sn-glyceride	Extracts and isolated compounds exhibited concentration-dependent activity; at 10 – 100 mg/ml, caused death of adult worms after 30.99 min of exposure.
				1-O-(13-methyltetradecanoyl)-sn-glycerol
				1-O-pentadecanoyl-sn-glycerol
				Betulinic acid
				Sitosteryl-β-D-glucoside
Lamiaceae	Ocimum gratissimum L.	Leaves	Aqueous	N/A	LC₅₀ =2.02 mg/ml after 5h at 2 – 10 mg/ml	Nigeria	Ibekwe & Bikom, 2019
	Leonotis nepetifolia (L.) R.Br.	Leaves	Aqueous	Tannins (0.2362 mg/mL)	LC₅₀=0.698 mg/mL after 6h at 2 – 10mg/ml	Uganda	Ssenkuban et al., 2022
	Leonotis nepetifolia (L.) R.Br.	Leaves	Ethanolic	Tannins (0.005 mg/mL)	LC₅₀= 2.521 mg/mL after 6h at 2 – 10mg/ml	Uganda	Ssenkuban et al., 2022
Moringaceae	Moringa oleifera Lam.	Seeds	Methanolic	N/A	At 1 – 5 mg/ml, caused dose- and time-dependent inhibition of egg viability and hatching after 72h	Egypt	Kandil., et al., 2018
Moringaceae	Moringa oleifera Lam.	Leaves	Ethanolic	N/A	Exhibited 83 % ovicidal effect after 15 days at 5 % concentration.	South Africa	Ahmed et al., 2024
Poaceae	Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle	Leaves	Ethanolic	N/A	Exhibited 62 % ovicidal effect at 20 % Concentration after 15 days	South Africa	Ahmed et al., 2024
Ranunculaceae	Clematis flammula L.	Flowers	Ethyl acetate	Polyphenol/Flavonoid	LC₅₀ = 11.65 mg/L after 48h, cercariae deterioration rate ≈ 97 %	Tunisia	Saidi et al., 2017
			Hexane	Polyphenol/Flavonoid Anemonin	LC₅₀ = 11.87 mg/l, deterioration rate > 35.39 %
			Hexane	Polyphenol/Flavonoid Anemonin	LC₅₀ = 9.64 mg/l strong cercaricidal activities (97 % deterioration rate)
Rosaceae	Hagenia abyssinica (Bruce) J.F. Gmel.	Flowers	Ethyl acetate	quercetin 3-O-β glucoside; Rutin	Caused death of worms at 100 μg/mL concentration within 41 min of exposure.	Ethiopia	Thomsen et al., 2012

African medicinal plants with anthelmintic properties against selected zoonotic helminths: a scoping review

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

African medicinal plants with in vitro activity against Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces_

In vivo efficacy of African medicinal plants against helminths of zoonotic relevance_

Medicinal plants evaluated in vitro against Taenia solium_

Medicinal plants evaluated in vitro against Fasciola hepatica

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