Sickle cell disease (SCD) in Nigeria is traditionally treated using herbs by Traditional Medical Practitioners (TMP). One of the herbs commonly used is Khaya, which is widely distributed in Africa, and three species exist in Nigeria. These are Khaya senegalensis A. Juss (KS), K. grandifoliola (WELW) CDC (KG) and K. ivorensis A. Chev. (KI). It was earlier discovered that K. senegalensis stem bark possessed anti-sickling activity, hence, in this study we evaluated the anti-sickling activities of the leaves of the three Khaya species with a view to authenticate their ethnomedicinal claims, and assess the proximate as well as the elemental constituents responsible for their properties. Leaves of the Khaya species were collected, dried, extracted by cold maceration and Soxhlet methods using water, ethanol and petroleum spirit. Extracts were thereafter filtered, concentrated in vacuo at 40oC and final drying was carried out in a lyophilizer. Inhibitory and reversal anti-sickling models were employed following standard procedures. Proximate and elemental analysis were determined using the simple analytical procedure as described by the Association of Official Analytical Chemistry (AOAC) of 1987, 13th Edition Washington DC P1094 and Dry Ashing method of AOAC 2006 respectfully. Anti-sickling results showed that the Soxhlet ethanol extracts of the three Khaya species demonstrated significant (p?0.05) ability to reverse and inhibit the sickling of red blood cells in-vitro with K. ivorensis having the highest inhibitory and reversal of 60.04+1.77% and 74.97+2.23% respectively at 4 mg/ml concentration. The proximate analysis revealed that the Khaya leaves were very rich in minerals, proteins and carbohydrates. The elemental analysis showed that Khaya leaves contained calcium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus, and other essential elements within the limits of dietary requirement. Khaya species could therefore be recommended for further development into herbal remedy in the management of sickle cell disease.

Keywords: Khaya, Red Blood Cell, Sickle Cell, Anti-sickling, Inhibitory, Reversal, Proximate and Elemental