Last modified: 2019-02-13
Abstract
1Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar
Abstract
Background: Malaria is one of the most a serious global public health problem and it is the main cause of acute illness and disease in African region. The emergence of drug resistant malaria parasite and insecticide resistant mosquitoes urged a continuous search for alternative leads particularly from plants. The current study, thus, aimed to evaluate the anti-malarial activity of Stephania abyssinica.
Methods: The leaf was extracted by maceration using 80% methanol and the crude extract was then successively fractionated using solvents of differing polarity. Prophylactic and 4-day suppressive models were employed to assess the in vivo anitmalarial activity of hydromethanolic extract and solvent fractions of the plant at different doses (100, 200 and 400mg/kg/day) against Plasmodium berghei (ANKA strain).
Results: The hydromethanolic extract and the hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate solvent fractions at 400mg/kg doses exhibited a statistically significant (p <0.001) chemosuppressive activities which was 45.60%, 42.50%, 55.80% and 51.44% percentage suppression, respectively. Likewise, in chemoprophylactic models, 400mg/kg dose of hydromethanolic extract and chloroform fraction significantly (p < 0.001) suppressed the level of parasitemia compared to the vehicle-treated groups with a percent inhibition of 54.41%, and 57.59% %, respectively. Furthermore, mice treated with solvent fractions and crude extract revealed a promising effect on mean survival time in both models.
Conclusions: The current study evidenced that the plant has a promising antiplasmodial activity against P.berghei, which upholds traditional claims and justifies a need to undertake advanced pharmacological and toxicological investigations.
Key words: Antimalarial, Stephania abyssinica, Plasmodium berghei, herbal medicine