<i>In Vitro</i> Assessment of anti plasmodial activity of <i>Albizia chevalieri</i> extracts against <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i>

Abstract

Medicinal plants play a key role in malaria control in Africa, especially in remote areas where health facilities are limited. This study was carried out with the aim to investigate the anti plasmodial activity of Albizia chevalieri against Plasmodium falciparum. The three aerial parts of Albizia chevalieri were extracted using methanol via maceration process. Anti plasmodial assay was carried out in duplicate in the 96-well microtitre plate. The anti Plasmodial activity of A. chevalieri methanolic extracts observed in this study may be attributed to the presence of some bioactive compounds. The effect of A. chevalieri methanolic extracts and reference drugs showed a decrease in percentage parasitaemia with increasing concentration. With regard to concentrations administered, a dose-dependent antimalarial activity was clearly shown for crude extract, isolates and the reference drugs. Artemether, the root isolate and leaf isolate exhibited a remarkable antiplasmodial activity. Root, leaf extracts and the pure isolates when compared with the standard drug that has the highest percentage inhibition shows no significance difference at (P>0.05). However, when compared with the other drugs such as Chloroquine, Quinine shows a significance percentage inhibition difference at (P>0.05). Considering the inhibitory effect of A. chevalieri methanol extracts on the growth of P. falciparum as reported in this study, it is concluded that the anti plasmodial activity of the plant on P. falciparum suggests its potency in the treatment of malaria infection. Further study on this plant is on-going to isolate, identify and characterize the bioactive compounds from this plant responsible for this bioactivity, and also to carry- out the drug synthesis.