Comparative anti-malaria potentials of leaf and root extracts of <i>Alstonia boonei</i> on the haematological indices of mice infected with <i>Plasmodium Berghei</i>

Abstract

The present study assessed the anti-malaria potentials and effects of aqueous and ethanolic leaf and root extracts of Alstonia boonei on the haematological indices of mice infected with Plasmodium berghei. The aim was to comparatively evaluate the antiPlasmodium effects of the plant extracts in the infected mice against the standard drug. A total of 216 male albino mice were randomly assigned to six treatment groups each containing six mice for both aqueous and ethanolic extracts experimentation. The artesunate-sensitive strain of the rodent parasite P. berghei NK-65 was inoculated into the mice intraperitoneally and infection was established by both  clinical and microscopic examination. Administration of the aqueous and ethanolic leaf and root extracts of A. boonei was done after phytochemical and acute toxicity tests at varying concentrations, for both suppressive and curative tests. Blood samples were collected by ocular puncturing and were examined for the haematological indices of PCV, Hb, RBC, MCHC, MCV, WBC, MHC, lymphocyte,  neutrophil, platelets, eosinophil, and monocyte using the standard procedures for estimation. Results showed a comparable  suppressive ability of A. boonei extracts to the standard drug, as well as a significantly (p<0.05) higher after treatment recovery of mice than the untreated infected mice. The haematological indices examined showed significantly (p<0.05) normalized and increased concentration after 7 days post-infection. In conclusion, the extracts of A. boonei leaf and root antiPlasmodium activity was dependent on both dosage and duration as observed from the study, and have demonstrated satisfactory normalization efficacy to haematological
indices in malaria treatment.

Keywords: Comparative anti-malaria, Alstonia boonei, Haematological, Plasmodium berghei, Mice