ABSTRACT
Twenty-two healthy albino mice were grouped into A, B, C, D, and E. Group A had six mice while groups B – E had four mice each. The mice were infected with Plasmodium berghei and the methanol extract of the leaves of Adansonia digitata was obtained by maceration extraction method. Phytochemical screening of the plant extract revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, carbohydrates and cardiac glycosides. The infected mice Group C, D and E were orally treated with the methanol leaves extract, while Group B was orally treated with water. After twenty days of treatment, the result obtained showed that the parasite level of the mice in Group E, treated with 400mg/kg body weight of the extract was greatly suppressed, so also was that of Group B, treated with 25mg/kg body weight of lumarthem, while Group C and D treated with 100mg/kg and 200mg/kg body weight of the extract showed a moderately suppressed growth of the parasite. The mice in Group A that were untreated showed an increase in the parasitemia level. The methanol extract of Adansonia digitata possesses invivo antiplasmodial activity on Plasmodium berghei by suppressing the parasite level but appears to be dose dependent.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction __________________________ 1
1.1 Malaria - Background _____________________ 2
1.2 Malaria parasites __________________________ 4
1.3 Plasmodium berghei _____________________ 5
1.4 Baobab leaves (medicinal uses) ___________ 6
1.5 Aim and objectives _____________________ 7
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Literature review ___________________________ 8
2.1 Malaria ________________________________ 8
2.1.1 Cause ________________________________ 9
2.1.2 Life cycle ________________________________ 9
2.1.3 Signs of symptoms ___________________________ 10
2.1.4 Complications ___________________________ 10
2.1.5 Diagnosis _________________________________ 11
2.1.6 Treatment _________________________________ 11
2.1.7 Prevention _________________________________ 12
2.2 Plasmodium berghei _______________________ 13
2.2.1 Life cycle of P. berghei (asexual development) 14
2.2.2 Sexual development ______________________ 15
2.2.3 Oocyst and sporozite development ____________ 17
2.3 Baobab (Adansonia digitata) __________________ 18
2.4 Biological activity of baobab __________________ 19
2.5 Uses of baobab in traditional medicine _______ 22
2.6 Scientific classification Adansonia digitata _______ 24
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Materials and methods _________________ 25
3.1 Materials _________________________________ 25
3.1.1 Apparatus _________________________________ 25
3.1.2 Reagents _________________________________ 26
3.2 Collection and preparation of plant material _______ 26
3.3 Plant extraction ____________________________ 27
3.4 Phytochemical screening __________________ 27
3.5 Source of experimental animals _____________ 30
3.6 Parasite source and invivo test __________________ 30
3.7 Animal group and invivo anti-plasmodial test ___ 31
3.8 Blood examination _______________________ 31
3.9 Calculation of percentage parasitemia and
percentage yield ____________________________ 32
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 Result s _________________________________ 33
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 Discussion _________________________________ 36
5.1 Conclusion _________________________________ 37
5.2 Recommendation ____________________________ 38
Reference _________________________________ 39
