Anti-Plasmodium berghei activity of Ethanol root bark extract of Hippocratea africana

Drug resistance is the major challenge that has undermined the viability of the synthetic anti-malaria drugs. The active ingredients inherent in plants are distributed to the various parts which can only be explored based on available information on them. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-plasmodium berghei activity of ethanol root bark extract of Hippocratea Africana. Freshly harvested root bark of H. Africana was dried at room temperature and afterwards ground into fine powder. 500 g of the powdered plant sample was extracted. Twenty five adult mice were divided into five (5) mice each. Group I was the normal control (NC), Groups II-V were infected with Plasmodium berghei. However, while group II was not treated with extract, Groups III and IV were treated with 200 and 400 mg/kg of ERBEHA respectively and Group V was administered 250 mg/kg of chloroquine. Animals were sacrificed at the termination of administration of extract and blood sample collected was analysed using standard procedures. P. berghei infection significantly (P<0.05) increased percentage parasitemia, reduced total protein and packed cell volume, oral administration significantly (P<0.05) reversed the observation. In conclusion, it can be deduced from the outcome of this work that the root bark of H. Africana wields the ability to eliminate Plasmodium berghei.