In vivo antimalarial activity of stem bark extracts of Plumeria alba against Plasmodium berghei in imprinting control region mice

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.