Anti-Plasmodial activities of some plants extracts used in traditional malaria therapy in Kano-Nigeria

Abstract

This work was set to evaluate the antiplasmodial activities of some plants used in traditional malaria therapy in Kano State, Nigeria. Nine medicinal plants, distributed into eight families, used for treatment of malaria fever by the Hausa people of Kano-Nigeria were selected based on the traditional claims of the folks. These were collected and extracted using aqueous and organic solvents. A total of nineteen extracts and forty four extract-fractions were obtained. Thirty extracts (7 aqueous extracts, 12 ethanol extracts and 11 methanol extracts-fraction) were selected and screened for their in vitro anti-plasmodial activities against laboratory adapted chloroquine susceptible Plasmodium falciparum strain 3D7. Seven (23.33%) of these extracts that exhibited 70% or more inhibition at 50μg/mL concentration were further evaluated to establish their potency levels. The respective IC₅₀ values obtained ranged between 0.361±0.15μg/ml and 37.67±4.20μg/ml. CALF₁ from the leaves of C. aurantifolia (Rutaceae) and CBLF₁ (a combination of the leaves of C. aurantifolia, Carica papaya, Mangifera indica and Psidium guajava) were further screened against a clinical isolate of P. falciparum and recorded IC₅₀ values similar to those obtained earlier against the laboratory strain, 12.42±3.94 μg/ml for CBLF₁, and 29.69±0.65μg/ml for CALF₁ respectively. It could be concluded that majority of the plants have demonstrated appreciable concentration dependent in vitro anti-plasmodial effects against the laboratory adapted and field strains P. falciparum.

Keywords: Plants Extracts, Traditional Malaria Therapy, Hausa people, Kano, Nigeria