Evaluation of Anti-plasmodial Activities of Aqueous Leaf Extracts of Ficus trichocarpa and Lasianthera africana on Chloroquine-sensitive Plasmodium berghei berghei (NK65) Infected Male Albino Mice

This study was designed to evaluate the antiplasmodial activities of aqueous leaf extracts of Ficus trichocarpa and Lasianthera africana on chloroquine-sensitive Plasmodium berghei berghei (NK65) infected male albino mice. P. berghei was obtained from National Institute for Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria, and maintained in the laboratory by serial passage in mice. Chemo-suppressive, prophylactic, and curative procedures were used to appraise the antiplasmodial potentials of the extracts. A total of 305 albino mice were used for this study. Forty-five albino mice which were divided into 9 groups were used for the acute toxicity study of F. trichocarpa and L. africana. For chemo-suppressive and prophylactic assessment, 180 albino mice were divided into 2 sets of 90 rats grouped into 6 of five albino mice each respectively, while 70 mice were used for the curative assessment. The remaining 10 infected mice served as donor mice. The infected mice were orally treated daily with 5 mg kg‾1 chloroquine 500, 1000, 1500, and 2000 mg kg‾1 bodyweight of F. trichocarpa and L. africana respectively, and a combined extract of F. trichocarpa and L. africana in a 1:1 ratio. The In vivo antiplasmodial effect of L. africana extract against P. berghei infection showed a significant (p˂0.05) dose-dependent schizonticidal activity for the prophylactic test. The percentage suppression of the malarial parasite by F. trichocarpa and L. africana after a 4-day treatment followed a dose-dependent manner and were significantly (p˂0.05) higher than the percentage suppression of groups treated with the combined extracts. Results of the prophylactic study showed that the percentage suppression of the parasite by the aqueous leaf extract of L. africana at each administered dosage was above 30%. It was, therefore, concluded that the leaf extracts of F. trichocarpa and L. africana possess antimalarial potencies when administered individually than as a combined regime and this property could be exploited for antimalarial therapy.