Antiplasmodial Efficacy of Methanolic Root and Leaf Extracts of Morinda lucida

Abstract

Development of antimalarial drugs from medicinal plants continues to be a very appealing option. Morindalucida, commonly known as “Ugigo” by the Ebira people in Kogi State North-Central Nigeria, is used in the treatment of malaria, fever, amongst other ailments. Therapeutic effects of the methanolic root extract and a combination of extracts of the leaf and root parts were evaluated in Plasmodium bergheiinfection in mice. Percentage suppression of parasitaemia for the methanolic root extract was 56.30, 59.84, 67.72 and 81.80% for doses of 100, 200, 400mg/kg body weight of the extract, and 5mg/kg chloroquine respectively. The mean survival period in days were 15.00 ± 0.70, 18.75 ± 0.5, 19.75 ± 1.39, 23.25 ± 1.38 and 8.75 ± 1.25, for 100, 200, 400mg/kg body weight of the extract, 5mg/kg chloroquine, and the untreated control respectively. Effective dose dependent inhibitions of parasitaemia were also observed in the curative test. In the combination study, it was observed that, the antimalarial activity for leaf and root was slightly more, compared to that of each of the extracts, as seen in parasite inhibition, after 5days of treatment (26.00, 20.00, 25.28, 21.35, 27.00, 19.50, 8.5 and 85.00), for 100, 200mg/kg leaf extract alone, 100 and 200mg/kg root extract alone, 50, 100mg/kg leaf and root extracts, 5mg/kg chloroquine and control groups respectively. It is concluded that the methanolic root and leaf extracts of Morindalucida are potentially useful for the development of antimalarial drug.