Cytotoxicity and In vitro Antimycobacterial Activity of Vigna unguiculata Grown in Dodoma, Tanzania

*Dr. Sartaz Begum – School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, St John University of Tanzania, P.O.Box47. Dodoma Tanzania
Happines Mwalusamba – School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, St John University of Tanzania, P.O.Box47. Dodoma Tanzania
Alfredi Moyo – Mabibo Traditional Medicine Research Centre, National Institute for Medical Research, 3-Barack Obama Drive, P.O. Box 9653, 11101 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Michael Qwarse – Department of Natural Product Development and Formulation. Institute of Traditional Medicine, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, P.O. Box 65001, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Alphonce I Marealle – Department of Clinical Pharmacy & Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Muhimbili University of Health & Allied Sciences, P.O. Box 65013, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Prof Valence MK Ndesendo – School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, St John University of Tanzania, P.O.Box47. Dodoma Tanzania
*Corresponding author: sartaj0786@yahoo.com

Abstract: Vigna unguiculata (L.)Walp (Fabaceae) is an annual herbaceous legume crop which commonly known as “Cowpea” and locally called as “Kunde” in Tanzania. Traditionally is highly valued and employed in treating various ailments including chest pain and relieve cough among others, and used as a vegetable in Tanzania. Therefore, this study aimed to screen the ethanolic leaf extract of V. unguiculata for the presence of phytochemical constituents, assess the toxicity using brine shrimp lethality test (BST) assay and in vitro antimycobacterial activity using microplate dilution method against Mycobacterium indicus pranii and Mycobacterium madagascariense. The results of phytochemical screening indicated the presence of steroids, flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, terpenoids, proteins and reducing sugars. Toxicity using brine shrimp lethality test exhibited LC50 9.827 μg/mL where minimum inhibition concentration values of in vitro antimycobacterial activity against M. indicus pranii and M. madagascariense were 0.78125 mg/mL and 1.5625 mg/mL respectively. Thus, the observed bioactivities validate the above traditional uses and also prove to be an indicative for presence of the antimycobacterial compounds which requires further phytochemical investigation.