Antimalarial Efficacy of Ethanolic Leaf Extract of Vernonia amygdalina against Plasmodium berghei in Infected Swiss Albino Mice

Abstract

There is a considerable increase in mortality caused by malaria due to the rapid spread of drug-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium berghei. The parasite has develop resistant to orthodox drugs over the years, thus need for herbal remedy. This study is sought to investigate the antimalarial efficacy of ethanolic leaf extract of Vernonia amygdalina against Plasmodium berghei in infected Swiss albino mice. Fresh plants of V. amygdalina were harvested from the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Ibadan. The leaves were dried, milled into powder and extracted using soxhlet apparatus and ethanol as the solvent. Thirty Swiss albino mice obtained from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, were acclimatized for seven (7) days and divided into six groups. Each mouse in groups 2 to 6 was inoculated intraperitoneally with infected blood suspension containing about 1x10⁷ Plasmodium berghei parasitized red blood cells on day zero while those in group 1 were not infected and this served as the normal control group. Animals in group 2 were administered 0.2 ml normal saline, those in group 3 were administered Chloroquine diphosphate at 5 mg/kg body weight,  those in groups 4, 5 and 6 were administered 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg of the ethanolic leaf extract of V. amygdalina respectively. All treatments were orally done once per day for five consecutive days from when parasites were first seen in the infected animal blood. Parasitemia Count and PCV were done using standard methods. V. amygdalina extract exhibited antimalarial properties especially at 200 and 400mg/kg and the results were not different from that of chloroquine. The result of this present study confirmed that ethanolic leaf extract of V. amygdalina which displayed good activities against P. berghei are suitable for their traditional use in the treatment of malaria fever.