Abstract:
Background: The need for new antimalarial agents with a transcriptional mode of action
but fewer side effects compared with artemisinin-based combination therapy for malaria has
been the preoccupation of scientists in areas where malaria is a menace. Stem bark extracts of
Plumeria alba, used traditionally for the treatment of malaria in Ghana, were investigated to
evaluate their prophylactic and curative antimalarial properties.
Methods: The antimalarial properties of P. abla were probed using aqueous (30–300 mg/kg)
and dichloromethane/methanol (30–300 mg/kg) extracts of the plant in imprinting control region
mice infected with Plasmodium berghei. For the curative test, the extracts were administered to
the infected mice 4 days post-infection. In the prophylactic test, the animals were pre-treated
with the extracts for 3 days before challenging them with P. berghei infected erythrocytes.
Results: The aqueous extract exerted significant (P , 0.05–0.001) effects on P. berghei infection,
similar to artemether and lumefantrine curatively and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine prophylac-
tically. However, the dichloromethane/methanol extract reduced the parasitemia curatively
(P , 0.05–0.01) but not prophylactically.
Conclusion: This study provides evidence to support the antimalarial properties of stem bark
extract of P. alba in mice.
