Botany-Scholarly Publications

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Browsing Botany-Scholarly Publications by Author "Abiodun, O."

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    Open Access
    Phytochemical screening and in vivo antimalarial activity of extracts from three medicinal plants used in malaria treatment in Nigeria
    (Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2016) Bankole, A. E.; Adekunle, A.A.; Sowemimo, A. A.; Umebese, C. E.; Abiodun, O.; Gbotosho, G. O.
    The use of plant to meet health-care needs has greatly increased worldwide in the recent times. The search for new plant-derived bioactive agents that can be explored for the treatment of drug-resistant malaria infection is urgently needed. Thus, we evaluated the antimalarial activity of three medicinal plants used in Nigerian folklore for the treatment of malaria infection. A modified Peter’s 4-day suppressive test was used to evaluate the antimalarial activity of the plant extracts in a mouse model of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium berghei ANKA strain. Animals were treated with 250, 500, or 800 mg/kg of aqueous extract. It was observed that of all the three plants studied, Markhamia tomentosa showed the highest chemosuppression of parasites of 73 % followed by Polyalthia longifolia (53 %) at day 4. All the doses tested were well tolerated. Percentage suppression of parasite growth on day 4 post-infection ranged from 1 to 73 % in mice infected with P. berghei and treated with extracts when compared with chloroquine diphosphate, the standard reference drug which had a chemosuppression of 90 %. The percentage survival of mice that received extract ranged from 0 to 60%(increased as the dose increases to 800 mg/kg). Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of tannins, saponins, and phenolic compounds in all the three plants tested.