Antiplasmodial activities of crude <I>Moringa oleifera</I> leaves extracts on chloroquine sensitive <I>Plasmodium falciparum</I> (3D7)

Abstract

The antimalarial efficacy of crude hexane, methanol and lyophilized aqueous Moringa oleifera leaf extract was evaluated on chloroquine sensitive (CQS) strain of Plasmodium falciparum (3D7) in vitro, with a view to validate traditional use of M. oleifera as antimalarial. A dose dependent suppression of parasite growth was observed for all extracts, at microgram per mills (µg/mL) concentrations. At the lowest concentration of extract (6.25 µg/mL), the hexane, methanol and lyophilized aqueous extracts showed 63.52%, 71.42% and 60.65% suppression of plasmodium growth respectively. The extracts showed potent biological activity at the highest concentration of extract, with a strong inhibition of plasmodium growth (71.31%, 83.06% and 80.36%) observed for the hexane, methanol and lyophilized aqueous extracts. Although some extracts are observed to be more potent than others, all extracts are observed to be biologically active against the 3D7 strain of P. falciparum (Hexane extract IC₅₀ = 3.36 µg/mL; methanol IC₅₀ = 3.44 µg/mL and aqueous IC₅₀ = 4.09 µg/mL respectively). The antiplasmodial activities observed may well be attributed to the presence of phenols, tannins, alkaloids and flavonoids in all solvent extracts.

Key words: Antiplasmodial, Moringa oleifera, Phytochemical screening, Plasmodium falciparum