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. 2022 Jul 30:2022:2640648.
doi: 10.1155/2022/2640648. eCollection 2022.

In Vivo Anti-Malarial Activity of the Aqueous Root Extract of Euclea divinorum Hiern (Ebenaceae) against Plasmodium berghei ANKA

Fentaw Girmaw  1 , Ephrem Engidawork  2
Affiliations

In Vivo Anti-Malarial Activity of the Aqueous Root Extract of Euclea divinorum Hiern (Ebenaceae) against Plasmodium berghei ANKA

Fentaw Girmaw et al. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. .

Abstract

Background: Drug resistance is a universal challenge to malaria control measures. As a result, the development and discovery of new chemotherapeutic agents from medicinal plants having anti-malarial traditional claims are very important. This work, therefore, attempted to evaluate the anti-malarial activity of the aqueous root extract of E. divinorum using a rodent model of malaria.

Methods: The roots of E. divinorum were extracted by hot decoction using distilled water. Anti-malarial activity of various doses (100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg, and 600 mg/kg) of the root aqueous extract was evaluated using the 4-day suppressive test as well as curative and repository tests. Parasitemia, rectal temperature, body weight, PCV, and MST were also determined.

Results: The finding showed that there were a dose-related significant parasitemia chemo-suppression and increment in survival time as compared to the negative control (p < 0.001) in all tests. The chemo-suppression effect was higher at 400 mg/kg extract-treated groups in the 4-day suppressive test followed by the curative test. The lowest chemo-prophylaxis effect was observed in 100 mg/kg extract-treated groups in the repository test. Regarding the other parameters, the extract prevented weight loss, temperature drop, and hemolysis in all models but not in a consistent manner.

Conclusion: The current study showed that the aqueous root extract of E. divinorum possessed a varying degree of anti-malarial activity in all three tests, with greater parasitemia suppression observed in the 4-day suppressive test. The extract produced higher parasitemia chemo-suppression and longer survival time in early infections followed by established and then residual infection.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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