Antimalarial activity and in vivo toxicity of selected medicinal plants naturalised in Kenya

Abstract

Malaria is an epidemic disease in Kenya. With most conventional antimalarial drugs being inaccessible, unaffordable, and reported resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to the currently used Artemisinin combined therapy, there is need to explore alternative sources of chemotherapeutic agents and plants are a potential rich source of antimalarial drugs. The study aimed to investigate the antimalarial activity and acute toxicityof four plants traditionally used to treat malaria in Msambweni District, Kenya. Results show that the aqueous root extract of Hoslundia opposita and the organic leaf extracts of Flacourtia indica and Ocimum gratissimum suppressed parasitaemia of Plasmodium berghei in mice by 90.62%, 87.84% and 88.07% respectively. None of the plant extracts exhibited toxicity on mice at a dose of 2000 mg/Kg body weight. The antimalarial activity exhibited by extracts of H. opposita, F. indica and O. gratissimum against P. berghei suggests that these plants may have active principles against P. falciparum.