Therapeutic Potentials of Adansonia digitata (Bombacaceae) Stem Bark in Plasmodium berghei-Infected Mice

A C T Malaria is one of the world's most deadly diseases which affect primarily poor populations in tropical and subtropical areas.Effort to developing more potent antimalarial from plant sources is on the increase due to the increased incidence of resistance of malaria parasites to chemotherapy.This study evaluated the therapeutic effects of aqueous and methanolic extract of Adansonia digitata stem bark against established infection in chloroquine sensitive Plasmodium berghei infected mice.Two different doses (200 and 400 mg kgG 1 b.wt.) of aqueous and methanolic stem bark extract of Adansonia digitata were administered orally to albino mice.5 mg kgG 1 b.wt. of chloroquine was used as positive control while the negative control mice received only the vehicle (5% v/v tween 80).The extracts in the two doses exerted significant (p<0.05)dose dependent chemosuppressive effect at different levels of the infection treated.The results obtained showed that the 400 mg kgG 1 b.wt.were more effective with respect to the parasite clearance than the 200 mg kgG 1 b.wt. in the two extracts.The 400 mg kgG 1 b.wt. of methanolic extract exhibited the highest chemosuppression.However, chloroquine at 5 mg kgG 1 b.wt.was significantly (p<0.05)higher than the extract treated group.There was an increase in Packed Cell Volume (PCV) in all the extract treated groups when compared to the control and chloroquine treated group was found to be significantly higher.Also, significant mean survival time was recorded in the extract treated group compared to the control during established infection.This study showed that Adansonia digitata has antimalarial property which can be explored for the management of malaria.