THE EFFICACY OF THE AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF ADANSONIA DIGITATA AGAINST PLASMODIUM BERGHEI INFECTION IN MICE
Abstract
The prevalence of malaria remains a significant threat in Sub-Saharan Africa. The occurrence of drug-resistant strains of Plasmodium in Nigeria underscores the urgent need for novel antimalarial medications. This research aims to assess the effectiveness of Adansonia digitata fruit pod extract against Plasmodium berghei infection in mice; determining the oral median lethal dose (LD50) and identifying phytochemical components using Lorke's and Evan's methodologies. The extract was assessed for its antiplasmodial activities against P. berghei-berghei in two murine malaria replicas using both suppressive and curative assays. Statistical analysis was conducted using one-way ANOVA. The LD50 of the extract through oral administration exceeded 5000 mg/kg. The extract contains alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, phenols, tannins, and anthraquinones. The aqueous fruit pulp extract of A. digitata, when administered at 250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg of doses, exhibited a dose-dependent suppression of parasitemia by 25.70%, 42.57%, and 49.39% respectively compared to the control group, parasitaemia clearance rates was 31.76%, 43.34%, and 56.65% respectively. The parasitaemia clearance with a dosage of 1000 mg/kg was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05).The reference drug (Chloroquine) administering a dosage of 5 mg/kg yielded a significant result (p < 0.05) parasitaemia clearance of 74.76%. Analysis of the Packed Cell Volume (PCV) levels revealed that those treated with the aqueous fruit pulp extracts of A. digitata at doses of 250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg maintained normal PCV values throughout suppressive and curative experiments. However, the PCV in the control groups was markedly diminished (p < 0.05) after both trials.
References
Anani K, Hudson JB, de Souza C, Akpagana K, Tower GHN, Arnason JT and Gbeassor M (2000). Investigation of medicinal plants of Togo for antiviral and antimicrobial activities. Pharmaceutical Biology, 38 (1): 40-45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1076/1388-0209(200001)3811-BFT040
Bamalli, Z., Mohammed, A. S., Ghazali, H. M., & Karim, R. (2014). Baobab Tree ( Adansonia digitata L ) Parts : Nutrition , Applications in Food and Uses in Ethno-medicine – A Review. Annals of Nutritional Disorders & Therapy, 1(3). https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1966.7602
Bantie, L., Assefa, S., Teklehaimanot, T.,andEngidawork, E. (2014). In vivo antimalarial activity of the crude leaf extract and solvent fractions of Croton mascrostachyusHocsht. (Euphorbiaceae) against Plasmodium berghei in mice. BMC Complementary and alternative medicine. 14:79 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-14-79
Biamonte, M. A., Wanner, J. K. and Roach, G. L. (2013). Recent advances in malaria drug discovery DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/chin.201330270
Burrows, J.N, Duparc,S., Gutteridge, W.E., Hooft van Huijsduijnen R., Kaszubska, W., Macintyre, F., Mazzuri, S., Möhrle., J.J and Wells, T.N.C. (2017). New developments in anti-malarial target candidate and product profile, Malaria Journal16: 26 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-016-1675-x
Daily Mail december (2007). Fancy a pint in the world. natural Oscar, 7:134-166
Fraga C.G., Leibovitz B.E., TappelA.L.(1988). Lipid peroxidation measured as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in tissue slices; characterization and comparison with homogenates and microsomes, Free Radic Biol Med. 5:155–61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0891-5849(88)90023-8
Dua, V. K., Verma, G. and Singh, B. (2013). Anti-malarial property of steroidal alkaloid conessine isolated from the bark of Holarrhenaantidysenterica, Malaria Journal, (12): 1;194-200. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-12-194
Gravavito G et al (2006) Antimalarial activity of some Colombian medicinal plants Sullivan Raton London, New York, pp 67-72.
Hilou, H., Nacoulma, O.G. and Guiguemde. T.R. (2006).) In-vivo antimalaria activities extracts from AmarantusSpiunosus L. and Boehaviviaerecta, L. in mice. Jounal of ethnopharmacology, 103:236-240 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2005.08.006
Kamatou, G.P.P and Vermaak V. A.M. (2012). An updated review of Adansoniadigitata a commercially important African tree. South African journal of Botany, 77:908-919 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2011.08.010
Kaur, K., Jain, M. and Kaur, T. (2009). Antimalarials from nature. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 9 (1), 3229-3256. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmc.2009.02.050
Lorke D (1983). A new approach to practical acute testing. Archives of Toxicology 54 (4): 275-287. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01234480
Martin, R.E., Henry, R.I., Abbey, J.L., Clements, J.D. and Kirk, K. (2004). The “permeome” of the malaria parasite: an overview of the membrane transport proteins of Plasmodium falciparum. Genome Biology 6(2): 21-26 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2005-6-3-r26
Ogunleye, O.O., Jatau, I.D., Natala, A.J., Idehen, C.O., Salami, O. and Mamman, S.A. (2019). In vivo effect of the aqueous extract of Adonsoniadigitata (Linn) fruit pulp on Trypanosoma brucei bruceiinfection in Wistar rats. Sokoto Journal of Veterinary Sciences, 17 (4): 1-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/sokjvs.v17i4.1
Ramadan A, Harraz FM and El-Mougy SA (1993). Anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic effects of the fruit pulp of Adansoniadigitata. Fitoterapia, 65(5): 418-422.
Rasoanaivo, P., Wright, C. W. and Willcox M., L. (2011). Whole plant extracts versus single compounds for the treatment of malaria: synergy and positive interactions. Malaria Journal, 10 (4), 54-60. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-10-S1-S4
Saurabh, K. and Richa, P.M. (2024). Drug resistance and resistance reversal strategies in malaria parasite. The Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology and Food Sciences, 1:84-91
Simo, F. A., sonyany, T and Nkinin, S.W. (2006). Herders’ High prevalence of Trypanosona bruceigambiensegroup in pigs from tontem sleepy sickness focus in camerouva. veterinary parasitology,139 (1-3):57-66 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2006.02.026
Talukdar, A.D., Choudhary, M.D., Chakraborty, M and Dutta, B.K. (2010). Phytochemical Screening and TLC profiling of plant extracts Cyathea gigantea (Wall. Ex. Hook.) Haltt. And Cyatheabrunoniana. Wall.ex. Hook. (Cl.&Bak.). Assam University Journal of Science andTechnology: Biological and Sciences, 5 (1):70-74.
WHO (2018) World Malaria Report, World Health Organisation, Geneva. (2018).
World Health Organisation (2004). The Role of Laboratory Diagnosis to Support Malaria Disease Management: Report of a WHO Technical Consultation; World Health Organization. Geneva
Copyright (c) 2024 FUDMA JOURNAL OF SCIENCES
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
FUDMA Journal of Sciences
