Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

The African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC), which focused on annual mass treatment with ivermectin, was launched in 1995 and was replaced by the Expanded Special Project for Neglected Tropical Diseases (ESPEN) by the end of 2015. In Ghana, the Community Directed Treatment with Ivermectin (CDTI) was introduced in 1999. After a decade, biannual reinforcement was introduced during which the Ghana Health Service (GHS) recorded coverage rates through routine data collection. Transmission studies conducted in the Upper Denkyira East Municipal (UDEM) of the forest zone of Ghana in 2002 and 2006 had shown that annual treatments with ivermectin had hardly any effect on the transmission of Onchocerca volvulus by the vector Simulium sanctipauli. In order to establish whether or not this was due to an insufficient compliance to the CDTI programme, an additional questionnaire survey was carried out in 2013 following those conducted in 2002 and 2006. The repeat transmission survey co...

Wounds represent a major health burden and drain on healthcare resources in the world including Ghana and Africa. The majority of the people of Ghana and Africa still patronize traditional medicine for their health needs including various forms of wounds. The aim of this study is the identification of medicinal plants, type of wounds, dosage forms and collection methods used traditionally in treating wounds in the Bosomtwi-Atwima-Kwanwoma district, Ghana. In vitro screening of selected extracts from these plants on cell physiology of human dermal fibroblasts and keratinocytes was to be performed.

Ethanolic and aqueous extracts of selected medicinal plants from Cameroon and Ghana were assessed for their in vitro anthelmintic activity by using the bovine filarial parasite Onchocerca ochengi and the free living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a model organism for research on nematode parasites. Worms were incubated in the presence of different concentrations of extracts and inhibitory effects were monitored at different time points. Among the extracts used in this study, ethanolic extracts of Anogeissus leiocarpus, Khaya senegalensis, Euphorbia hirta and aqueous extracts from Annona senegalensis and Parquetina nigrescens affected the growth and survival of C. elegans and O. ochengi significantly. The mortality was concentration dependent with an LC50 ranging between 0.38 and 4.00 mg/ml for C. elegans (after 72 h) and between 0.08 and 0.55 mg/ml for O. ochengi after a 24 h incubation time. Preliminary phytochemical screenings on these extracts revealed the presence of flavonoid...

The wound healing process is a complex and dynamic process of restoring cellular structures and tissue layers upon damage. Pupallia lappacea (L.) Juss is an annual or perennial herb of the family Amaranthaceae widespread in the tropics and sub-tropical regions and used in folklore medicine for treatment of boils, chronic wounds and skin infections. The study aims to determine the antioxidant and in vivo wound healing properties of P. lappacea. Extracts of leaves and aerial parts of P. lappacea were obtained by extracting with ethanol, petroleum ether and chloroform using the cold maceration method for 72 h. The antioxidant properties of the extracts were determined by the DPPH free radical scavenging method and the IC50 determined. The wound healing studies was conducted using excision wound healing model using Sprague-Dawley rats and the percentage wound closure determined for 11 days. Breaking strength and histological studies were performed on both treated and untreated wound tis...