Emelia Kisseih

• Doctor of Pharmacy
• Lecturer at University of Ghana

Abstract Background: Over 300,000 babies are born with the severe form of sickle cell disease (SCD) worldwide, with most occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Although the pathophysiology of this disease is now better understood, there are still few conventional pharmacological treatments available, with these medicines having adverse effe...

Aim: To identify the challenges that hinder the successful translation of anticonvulsants from plant origins, from preclinical research to clinical application. Design: This review was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidance for a scoping review. Data Sources: The following bibliographic databases were searched between November 1...

Herbal Medicine; Cancer; Africa; Bibliometric Analysis; Citation Analysis; Research Impact

Some tannin-rich plants such as Combretum mucronatum and Phyllanthus urinaria are widely used in Africa for the control of parasitic nematodes in both humans and livestock. Tannins have been recognized as an alternative source of anthelmintic therapies, and hence, recent studies have focused on both the hydrolyzable and condensed tannins. These gro...

Acute diarrhea is a global health challenge, especially in developing regions. It accounted for 444,000 child mortalities in 2021, and indiscriminate use of antibiotics in its management is reported to contribute significantly to increase in antibiotic resistance. The objective of this study was to identify herbal drugs which are efficacious in acu...

Polyalthia longifolia (Sonn.) is a medicinal plant that belongs to the family Annonaceae, and it is distributed in the tropics. This plant is widely grown in West Africa for its ornamental and medicinal purposes. There are two varieties of P. longifolia which are commonly distinguishable by the direction of their branches. One has spreading perpend...

Moringa oleifera is one plant that is multi-purposefully used for the prevention and treatment of numerous diseases. This study analyzed the phytochemical and elemental contents of M. oleifera leaf extract, and evaluated its effect on fibroblast proliferation, which is crucial for wound healing. M. oleifera leaf samples were collected, identified,...

Voacanga africana, is a medicinal plant widely used in many African countries. Various parts of this plant are used, but more especially the seeds are held in high esteem for it’s their additional economic value due to the presence of the alkaloids ibogaine, tabersonine, and voacangine. These alkaloids have peculiar medicinal uses in the treatment...

The aerial parts of Phyllanthus urinaria are used in traditional medicine in West Africa against helminthiasis, but their anthelmintic potential has not been evaluated until now. Within the current study, a hydroacetonic extract (AWE) and fractions and isolated ellagitannins from P. urinaria were, therefore, tested in vitro against Caenorhabditis e...

Soil-transmitted helminthiasis affects more than 1.5 billion people globally and largely remains a sanitary problem in Africa. These infections place a huge economic burden on poor countries and affect livestock production, causing substantial economic losses and poor animal health. The emergence of anthelmintic resistance, especially in livestock,...

Background: Plant as a source of medicine has gained international popularity in recent times because of its natural origin, availability in local communities, cheaper to purchase, ease of administration, and its usefulness as an alternative treatment in case of numerous side effects and drug resistance. However, the use of herbal formulations can...

Medicinal plants are frequently used in African countries due to their importance in the treatment of various conditions. In the northern Republic of Benin, traditional healers are recognized as specialists in the treatment of fractures, wounds, and sprains. The present study was conducted to document the practices (diagnosis and materials) and tra...

Herbal medicines are invaluable in African medicine, but quality and safety are not documented in many cases. Besides controlled farming, validated quality control methods are needed to ensure identity, purity, and content. Analytical specifications within modern monographs are needed for consistent batch quality. Combretum mucronatum leaves are wi...

Background In Africa, herbalism supplements allopathic medicine's efforts to ensure Universal Health Coverage attainment. This review was conducted to identify and to summarise current literature on methodological approaches used for quality control of herbal medicines in Africa, to evaluate the gaps associated with existing strategies within conte...

Diseases that affect the digestive tract are referred to as Gastrointestinal ailments. Gastrointestinal (GI) ailments contribute substantially to healthcare costs all over the world. Ocimum gratissimum , commonly known as African basil is a wellknown medicinal herb with a wide therapeutic potential. In most West African homes, it is employed as a h...

The majority of people living in developing countries rely on alternative medicine for many aspects of their healthcare needs. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of alternative treatments have been adopted in a bid to prevent contracting and sometimes purported to cure the disease. However, the adopted medicinal plants are mainly arbitrary and...

Adansonia digitata L. is a tree indigenous to Ghana and West Africa. It is traditionally used for medicinal, religious and nutritional purposes. Different parts of the plant are used traditionally for the treatment of diseases such as anaemia, malaria, asthma and diarrhoea among others. It is therefore necessary to provide standard parameters for i...

Ethnopharmacological relevance Some local communities in Cote d'Ivoire use the mushroom Termitomyces schimperi combined with kaolin (TSK) to manage various cancers in patients. However, there is a paucity of data on toxicity, mutagenicity and trace metal constituent of TSK. Aim of the study We sought to investigate the acute and sub-chronic toxici...

Objective: This study sought to preliminarily investigate the inhibitory effect of metabolites of Aspergillus chevalieri and Trichoderma harzianum on a number of pathogenic bacteria. Methods: The agar well diffusion method was employed to determine the antimicrobial activity of the fungal metabolites. The test microorganisms were Enterococcus faeca...

Combretum mucronatum Schumach & Thonn is a scandent shrub whose leaves are widely used by Ghanaians and other West-African herbalists for the treatment of various infectious and non-infectious diseases. It is used to treat wounds, coughs, dysentery, worm infestation, neurological disorders and bacterial infections. Some coughs are as a result of my...

The stem bark of Khaya senegalensis, known as mahogany is commonly sold on the Ghanaian market for the treatment of numerous ailments. To ensure its safe and efficacious use, there is a need to ensure that this plant material is of the best quality. Quality will involve ensuring its identity, purity and content are up to recommended standards by ap...

Background: Phyllanthus amarus is a medicinal plant used in the treatment of various ailments which include gonorrhoea, jaundice, diabetes, kidney diseases, bladder and intestinal infections, influenza, measles, viral infections, and tuberculosis. Tuberculosis treatment is faced with many challenges, resulting in a prolonged treatment regimen and p...

Objective: Synedrella nodiflora is traditionally used in the treatment of several ailments. Pharmacologically, this plant has anticonvulsant, sedative, anti-nociceptive and anti-proliferative effects. This study further investigated S. nodiflora for its antioxidant and in vitro inhibition of cancerous cell lines. Methods: Phytochemical assays, and...

Background and objectives: Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (roselle) sepals, commonly known as bissap is prepared as a cold drink which is widely drunk in Ghana and across West-Africa for their medicinal and nutritional properties. The plant is known to have anti-hypertensive, anti-hyperlipidemic, anticancer, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory activities....

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Majority of people living in Ghana and many other developing countries rely on traditional medicinal plants for their primary healthcare. These plants are used either alone or in combination to manage a wide range of ailments. However, most of these plants have not been investigated for their mutagenic effects. Aim...

Background: The use of traditional medicine in treating and managing chronic diseases is currently a common practice. Taraxacum officinale (dandelion), commonly used as food, has been reported to have several pharmacological properties including blood glucose lowering effects in diabetes mellitus. In the present study, the hypoglycemic property of...

Background The hydro-ethanolic whole plant extract of Synedrella nodiflora (SNE) has demonstrated anticonvulsant, sedative and analgesic effects. Preliminary studies conducted in animals, SNE significantly decreased stereotypic behaviours suggesting antipsychotic potential. Coupled with the central nervous system depressant effects of SNE, we hypot...

Wounds represent a major global health challenge and as a result the focus of scientists of today is shifted towards that angle. The study was therefore aimed at investigating the wound healing property of methanol leaf and root extracts of Hilleria latifolia (HLLE, HLRE) and methanol leaf extract of Laportea ovalifolia (LOLE), as well as their cyt...

This section reviews the current literature on medicinal plants including extracts, fractions, isolated compounds and natural products that have been demonstrated to have wound healing properties. Various electronic databases such as PubMed, Science Direct, SciFinder and Google Scholar were employed to search for plants, natural plant constituents...

Non-communicable diseases which were often thought to be public health problems of only high income countries is now a living reality in low-income countries. The changing disease landscape and increasing burden of non-communicable diseases, particularly in the African Region, threatens to overwhelm already over-stretched health services1. It is es...

Background: The leaves of Pergularia daemia Forsk (family Asclepidaceae) provide alternative plant-based treatments for the management of diabetes mellitus and diarrhoea in both humans and indigenous poultry species like the Guinea fowls (Numida meleagris). However, no scientific investigations to validate its usefulness in Ghana have been establi...

Blattextrakte aus Combretum mucronatum Schum. & Thonn. werden in Westafrika ­traditionell zur Wundheilungsförderung verwendet. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung sollte die Droge phytochemisch charakterisiert, eine validierte HPLC-Methode zur Qualitätskontrolle der Droge entwickelt und funktionale Studien an humanen primären Hautzellen unter In-vitro...

Baphia nitida Lodd. (Family Leguminosae-Papilionoideae) is a tropical plant used in African folkloric medicine for the treatment of infections and inflammatory conditions. This study therefore seeks to investigate the biological activities including antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of 70% v/v ethanol leaf and root extract...

Ehretia cymosa Thon. (Family Boraginaceae) is a shrub used by inhabitants of several communities in Ghana to treat diabetes mellitus and treatment of diarrhoea in indigenous poultry species including Guinea fowls (Numida meleagris). In this study, the antihyperglycaemic, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Ehretia cymosa was investigated. A...

Procyanidins are natural healers of wounds through their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions. On skin cells, procyanidins induce proliferation, differentiation and stimulate cellular viability. Differentiation of epidermal fibroblasts and keratinocytes are important in the wound healing process and in remedying skin conditions such as psorias...

Hilleria latifolia (Lam.) H. Walt. and Laportea ovalifolia (Schumach.) Chew. are herbs used for treatment of rheumatism, boils, skin diseases and wounds. The aim of the study was to investigate the in vivo wound healing activity and cytotoxicity of methanol leaf (HLML) and root (HLMR) extracts of H. latifolia and methanol leaf extract of L. ovalifo...

Treatment of wounds is still an important problem, especially chronic wounds and ulcers. This chapter discusses a strategy that has taken the authors from initial ethnopharmacological fieldwork to phytochemical and pharmacological research. Validated and structured ethnopharmacological field study in a defined area in Ghana revealed plant species t...

Background: The use of antibiotics over the years has led to increased bacterial resistance. With the current menace of microbial resistance to already existing antibiotics, there is an urgent need to discover new antimicrobial agents with different and novel mechanism of actions for new and re-emerging infectious diseases. Pupalia lappacea (L.) Ju...

Background: Borassus aethiopum Mart (Family Arecaceae), commonly known as the African Fan Palm, is a tropical plant species found widely across Africa, and used globally for both medicinal and non-medicinal purposes. In this study, the anti-oxidant, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory activities of an ethanolic extract of the fruit of Borassus aet...

Erythrophleum ivorense and Parquetina nigrescens are found growing in tropical regions and they are used in African traditional medicine to treat various ailments including wounds, boils and anaemic conditions. Some species of plant in the Erythrophleum genus are also known to be poisonous and toxic to several livestock. However, there is no inform...

Zanthoxylum leprieurii Guill and Perr. (Family Rutaceae) is used in traditional medicine as a diuretic, purgative and in the treatment of wounds, ulcers, pains, arthritis, skin and urinary tract infections, dysentery and intestinal worm infestation. However, no extensive scientific research has been conducted to verify the anti-infective and wound...

Introduction The antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity of the methanolic leaf and stem bark extracts of Erythrophleum ivorense A. Chev (Leguminosae) were studied to justify its use in treating microbial infections and wounds of many West African countries, including Ghana [1] as well as confirm its toxicity to several livestock [2]. Method The...

Combretum smeathmanii G. Don (Combretaceae) is a scandent shrub widely used by traditional healers in Ghana and is indicated for the treatment of wounds and boils [1]. The aim of this project is to investigate skin activity of this plant under in vitro conditions on skin cells. Additionally phytochemical characterization and functional testing of s...

Paullinia pinnata L. (Sapindaceae) is widely used ethnomedicinally in Ghana for the treatment of wounds and other skin diseases. In this study, the in vivo effect of the methanolic extract of P. pinnata on incision and excision wound models in rats were investigated, as well as the in vitro cytoprotective action of the extract on 142BR cell line ag...

As part of our general objective of investigating indigenous plants used in wound healing in Ghana, we hereby report our findings from some in vitro and in vivo studies related to wound healing activities of Clerodendron splendens G. Don (Verbanaceae). Methanolic extract of the aerial parts of the plant was tested for antimicrobial activity against...