Abstract
Background Malaria remains a major worldwide public health problem leading to death of millions of people. Spread and emergence of antimalarial drug resistance are the major challenge in malaria control. Medicinal plants are the key source of new effective antimalarial agents. Cordia africana (Lam.) is widely used for traditional management of malaria by local people in different parts of Ethiopia. The present study aimed to evaluate in vivo antimalarial effects of leaf extracts and solvent fractions of Cordia africana on Plasmodium berghei-infected mice. Methods The leaf extracts were prepared and tested for oral acute toxicity according to the OECD guideline. In vivo antimalarial effects of various doses of C. africana extracts and solvent fractions were determined using the four-day suppression test (both crude and fractions), as well as curative and chemoprophylactic tests (crude extracts). Results The acute toxicity test of the plant extract revealed that the medium lethal dose is higher than 2000 mg/kg. The crude extract of the plant exhibited significant parasitemia suppression in the four-day suppression (51.19%), curative (57.14%), and prophylactic (46.48%) tests at 600 mg/kg. The n-butanol fraction exhibited the highest chemosuppression (55.62%) at 400 mg/kg, followed by the chloroform fraction (45.04%) at the same dose. Conclusion Our findings indicated that both the crude leaf extracts and fractions of C. africana possess antimalarial effects, supporting the traditional claim of the plant.
Highlights
Malaria is a life threatening infectious disease caused by unicellular eukaryotic protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Plasmodium, which is a member of the phylum Apicomplexa [1, 2]. e disease remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality with more than 3.2 billion people affected worldwide [3]
Fresh leaves of C. africana were collected from Chalacot, Tabia, Enderta, and Woreda which is located 17 kilometers South of Mekelle city and about 800 kilometers away from Addis Ababa on November 26, 2017. e plant was identified and authenticated by a taxonomist, and voucher specimens of the plant material were deposited at the National Herbarium, Department of Biology, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, for future reference with the voucher number designated as DZ001/2017
The highest percent yield of the solvent fraction was obtained from the chloroform fraction (40.75%) of the leaf extract of Cordia africana, followed by that of the aqueous fraction (37.2%), and the remaining (10.58%) was the n-butanol fraction
Summary
Malaria is a life threatening infectious disease caused by unicellular eukaryotic protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Plasmodium, which is a member of the phylum Apicomplexa [1, 2]. e disease remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality with more than 3.2 billion people affected worldwide [3]. E disease remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality with more than 3.2 billion people affected worldwide [3]. It takes the lives of people in the tropical and subtropical part of the world each year, especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa, and most of the victims are children below five years of age and pregnant women [4]. E present study aimed to evaluate in vivo antimalarial effects of leaf extracts and solvent fractions of Cordia africana on Plasmodium bergheiinfected mice. Our findings indicated that both the crude leaf extracts and fractions of C. africana possess antimalarial effects, supporting the traditional claim of the plant
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