In vitro acaricidal efficacy and phytochemical profiling of Datura innoxia mill. pulp extracts against Sarcoptes scabiei in Gombe State, Nigeria

Datura innoxia is one of the most important species of Solanaceae family with several ethnobotanical uses in folk medicine. This study exploredthe phytochemicals and acaricidal activity of the aqueous, ethyl acaetate and petroleum ether extracts of the pulp of Datura innoxia on Sarcoptes scabiei, the ectoparasitethat causes Scabies. The plant was collected and authenticated by an experienced plant taxonomist in the Department of Botany, Gombe State University and voucher specimen was deposited and accession number collected. The pulp of the Datura innoxia plants was shade dried and extracted using aqueous, ethyl acetate and petroleum ether. Simple random sampling method was used for the Tsangaya schools selection. Scabies mites were collected through purposive sampling from four hundred (400) consented Almajiri children (5-20 years) attending Tsangaya school within the five local government areas (LGAs) of Gombe State and transported to the microbiology laboratory of Gombe State University for parasitological examination using standard procedure. The extracts was used for phytochemicals screening following standard established protocol and further used for in vitro acaricidal assay. The data obtained were processed using SPSS version 26 and statistically analysed using descriptive statistic and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The findings of the study revealed that aqueous extract of the pulp of Datura innoxia contained phenol, saponin, tannin, flavonoid, glycosides and steroids while the ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extracts contains all the listed phytochemicals plus alkaloids. The acaricidal assay reveals aqueous extracts to be effective but dose dependent but the ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extracts showed more promising acaricidal potency at all concentrations. The probit analysis estimated the 24-hour LC50 of the aqueous extract as 5.93 mg/ml, suggesting moderate acaricidal potency. Both ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extracts achieved complete mortality even at the lowest concentration tested, their LC50 values were estimated to be < 6.25 mg/ml. This suggests that the ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extracts were more potent than the aqueous extract under the experimental conditions. The present results provide a reference basis to support the traditional use of the pulp of Datura innoxia in the treatment of Scabies infestation.