Abstract
Various combinations of Nauclea latifolia root, Artocarpus altilis stem bark, Murraya koenigii leaf and Enantia chlorantha stem bark used in African ethnomedicine as decoctions for malaria and fevers, and combinations with standard drugs, were investigated for antiplasmodial activities using Plasmodium berghei berghei-infected mice. The respective prophylactic and curative ED50 values of 189.4 and 174.5 mg/kg for N. latifolia and chemosuppressive ED50 value of 227.2 mg/kg for A. altilis showed that they were the best antimalarial herbal drugs. A 1.6-fold increase of the survival time given by the negative control was elicited by M. koenigii, thereby confirming its curative activity. Pyrimethamine with an ED50 of 0.5 ± 0.1 mg/kg for the prophylactic, and chloroquine with ED50 = 2.2 ± 0.1 and 2.2 ± 0.0 mg/kg for the chemosuppressive and curative tests, respectively, were significantly (p < 0.05) more active. Co-administrations of N. latifolia with the standard drugs significantly reduced their prophylactic, chemosuppressive and curative actions, possibly increasing the parasites’ resistance. Binary combinations of N. latifolia or M. koenigii with any of the other plants significantly increased the prophylactic and suppressive activities of their individual plants, respectively. Also, E. chlorantha with A. altilis or N. latifolia enhanced their respective prophylactic or curative activities, making these combinations most beneficial against malaria infections. Combinations of three and four extracts gave varied activities. Hence, the results justified the combinations of ethnomedicinal plants in antimalarial herbal remedies and showed the importance of the three in vivo models in establishing antimalarial activity.
Highlights
Malaria is a major tropical disease with high morbidity and mortality, especially in the sub-SaharanAfrica, Asia and Latin America continents [1]
Antiplasmodial activities of the four plants were evaluated against P. berghei berghei, using the in vivo prophylactic, chemosuppressive and curative test models, in order to validate their ethnomedicinal claims and determine the potentials of their various combinations, and of combinations with standard drugs
Nigeria from trees already authenticated by Dr (Mrs) Margaret Bassey (Department of Botany and Ecological Studies, University of Uyo) while the stem bark of A. altilis (AA) and M. koenigii (MK) leaves were collected in March 2011 near the gate and in the staff quarters of Obafemi
Summary
Malaria is a major tropical disease with high morbidity and mortality, especially in the sub-Saharan. The World Health Organization [17] recommendation of ACT as a policy of malaria treatment, may be an impetus for the continued investigation of combinations of herbs with reported ethnomedicinal antimalarial usage as a promising approach for discovery of candidate drugs [4,18] Such drugs must have reports of both in vivo and in vitro anti-plasmodial activities [19]. A. altilis, N. latifolia and M. koenigii, as possible components of herbal decoctions, were evaluated in this study, using their aqueous-ethanolic extracts, Plasmodium berghei berghei-infected mice and the three in vivo prophylactic, chemosuppresive and curative models, with the aims of corroborating their in vitro antimalarial activities and providing scientific evidence supporting their ethnomedicinal usage. The curative activity of E. chlorantha was re-evaluated
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