Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Ethnopharmacology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jethpharm Medicinal plants used by the people of Nsukka Local Government Area, south-eastern Nigeria for the treatment of malaria: An ethnobotanical survey Uchenna E. Odoh a , Philip F. Uzor b, ⁎ , Chidimma L. Eze a , Theophine C. Akunne c , Chukwuma M. Onyegbulam a , Patience O. Osadebe b, ⁎ a Department of Pharmacognosy and Environmental Medicines, University of Nigeria, Nsukka 410001, Nigeria b Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, University of Nigeria, Nsukka 410001, Nigeria c Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka 410001, Nigeria ARTICLE INFO Chemical compounds studied in this article: Ajoene (PubChem CID: 5386591) Allicin (PubChem CID: 65036) Azadirachtin (PubChem CID: 5281303) Berberine (PubChem CID: 2353) Damnacanthal (PubChem CID 2948) Hydroxyvernolide (PubChem CID: 5281472) Gedunin (PubChem CID: 12004512) Jatrorrhizine (PubChem CID: 72323) Nimbolide (PubChem CID: 100017) Oleanolic acid (PubChem CID: 10494 Palmatine (PubChem CID: 19009) Ursolic acid (PubChem CID: 64945 Vernodalin (PubChem CID: 179375 Vernodalol (PubChem CID: 442318) Vernolide (PubChem CID: 5281508) Keywords: Ethnobotanical survey Ethnopharmacology Nsukka Anti-malarial compounds Anti-plasmodium Malaria ABSTRACT Ethnobotanical relevance: Malaria is a serious public health problem especially in sub-Saharan African countries such as Nigeria. The causative parasite is increasingly developing resistance to the existing drugs. There is urgent need for alternative and affordable therapy from medicinal plants which have been used by the indigenous people for many years. Aim of study: This study was conducted to document the medicinal plant species traditionally used by the people of Nsukka Local Government Area in south-eastern Nigeria for the treatment of malaria. Methods: A total of 213 respondents, represented by women (59.2%) and men (40.8%), were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The results were analysed and discussed in the context of previously published information on anti-malarial and phytochemical studies of the identified plants. Results: The survey revealed that 50 plant species belonging to 30 botanical families were used in this region for the treatment of malaria. The most cited families were Apocynaceae (13.3%), Annonaceae (10.0%), Asteraceae (10.0%), Lamiaceae (10.0%), Poaceae (10.0%), Rubiaceae (10.0%) and Rutaceae (10.0%). The most cited plant species were Azadirachta indica (11.3%), Mangifera indica (9.1%), Carica papaya (8.5%), Cymbopogon citratus (8.5%) and Psidium guajava (8.5%). Conclusion: The present findings showed that the people of Nsukka use a large variety of plants for the treatment of malaria. The identified plants are currently undergoing screening for anti-malarial, toxicity and chemical studies in our laboratory. 1. Introduction According to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report, nearly half of the world's population is at risk of malaria. In 2015, there were roughly 212 million malaria cases and an estimated 429,000 malaria deaths with sub-Saharan Africa having high share of the global malaria burden (90% of malaria cases and 92% of malaria deaths) (WHO, 2015). Nigeria accounts for a quarter of all malaria cases in Africa (WHO, 2008) and transmission occurs all year round especially in the southern part of the country where there are more rain forests. The Federal Ministry of Health (2004) report shows that malaria is the most common disease in Nigeria and half of its population will have one or more malaria attacks annually (Adebayoa and Krettli, 2011). Malaria in humans is caused by five species of parasites belonging to the genus Plasmodium. Four of these – P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae and P. ovale – are human malaria species that are spread from one person to another via the bite of female mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. The fifth Plasmodium specie (P. knowlesi) is not spread from person to person but rather, occurs in people when an Anopheles mos- quito infected by a monkey bites and infects humans. Of the five species of the protozoan genus that cause malaria in humans, P. falciparium is the most deadly (WHO, 2015). With the recent reports of increasing resistance of the Plasmodium organisms to the existing drugs in many endemic areas (WHO, 2011), including the newly introduced https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2018.02.034 Received 29 June 2017; Received in revised form 15 February 2018; Accepted 21 February 2018 ⁎ Corresponding authors. E-mail addresses: Philip.uzor@unn.edu.ng (P.F. Uzor), patience.osadebe@unn.edu.ng (P.O. Osadebe). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 218 (2018) 1–15 0378-8741/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. T