In vitro and in vivo antiplasmodial assays of selected Nigerian commercial herbal formulations

Abstract

Introduction: Malaria remains a life-threatening disease, mainly in tropical and sub-tropical countries of the world. The problem caused by the disease is further compounded by the emergence and spread of multidrug resistant Plasmodium falciparum. Coupled with the poor distribution of modern health facilities, there is resurgence in the use of herbal remedies to treat malaria. In this study, we evaluated the antiplasmodial activities of six commercially available herbal formulations using in vivo and in vitro methods to assess their claimed antimalarial properties. Methods: The antiplasmodial activities of the six herbal formulations were assessed using Chloroquine sensitive P. falciparum parasite strain 3D7 using the SYBR Greenin vitro method and the in vivo curative test (established infection) in Plasmodium berghei infected Mus musculus. Results: The six herbal formulations had values of IC50 > 100 µg/mL on 3D7 strain of P. falciparum compared to controls which had IC50 values of 6.92nM (Chloroquine) and 0.75nM (Artesunate). In the curative evaluation (in vivo) the herbal formulations significantly reduced parasitaemia on day 4 (26.3%-77.3 %) and day 7 (45.54%-94.81%) post-treatments (P<0.05) when compared to the untreated group, which recorded high mortality rate. Conclusion: Findings made in this study lend support to the claim that these herbal formulations have antiplasmodial activities. Percentage inhibitions of parasitaemia of the formulations were all above 50% except M&T capsule which had lower percentage inhibition of parasitaemia.

Screening of Five Herbal Formulations Sold in South-East Nigeria for their Phytochemical Properties, In Vitro Antioxidant, Antiplasmodial and Cytotoxic Activities

“…Infected cells including erythrocytes are always under oxidative stress; therefore in some disease conditions it is helpful for 19 The result showed that African iba herbal formulation has a very promising in vitro antiplasmodial activity with IC50 value of 9.61 µg/mL against chloroquine resistant plasmodium falciparum (DD2). This result is in contrast to the earlier result obtained by Ikem et al, (2020) which stated that IC50 of African iba against chloroquine sensitive plasmodium falciparum (3D7) had a poor activity over 100 µg/mL. 14 This could be attributed to the difference in genetic makeup between both parasites.…”

“…This result is in contrast to the earlier result obtained by Ikem et al, (2020) which stated that IC50 of African iba against chloroquine sensitive plasmodium falciparum (3D7) had a poor activity over 100 µg/mL. 14 This could be attributed to the difference in genetic makeup between both parasites. 27 From the manufacturers claim it was observed that African Iba herbal formulation was prepared using Kigelia africana and Nauclea latifolia.…”

“…The screening of the antiplasmodial activities of the five herbal formulations was performed using the SYBR green I-based fluorescence assay as previously described. 14,15 The infected Red blood cell were incubated with herbal formulation and artesunate under culture conditions using 1 % parasitaemia and 2 % hematocrit. The negative controls were not treated with any drug.…”

“…The MTT 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide-based assay as described in earlier studies with slight modification was used for this study. 14,15 Briefly, for erythrocyte survival assay, a 100 μL of washed Red blood cell at 2% hematocrit was added 100 μL volumes of serially diluted herbal formulations (For each herbal formulation, five duplicate dilutions were prepared with concentrations ranging from 6.25 μg/mL to 100 μg/mL. The plates were incubated at 37 0 C for 72 hours in a modular chamber under low oxygen and carbon dioxide.…”

“…Some of the plant extracts contained in these formulations including Magnifera indica, Uvaria chamae, Cymbopogon citratus) have been reported to have antimalarial potential. 14,30 The jukart cell lines were exposed to these five herbal formulations with increment on concentrations. Curcumin served as the positive.…”