comparative anti-malarial and toxicological properties of the stem bark extracts of nauclea latifolia and terminalia glaucescens against plasmodium berghei-infected mice

Background: anti-plasmodial activities of the methanol stem bark extracts of nauclealatifolia, and terminalia glaucescens were investigated in mice infected with plasmodiumberghei.methods: a total of 24 plasmodium berghei infected (p. berghei infected) mice weredivided into 8 groups of 3 each. groups a-f were given 100, 300 or 500 mg/kg of eitherextracts. groups g and h received 2 ml normal saline (negative control) and 5 mg/kgof chloroquine (positive control), respectively. the drugs and extracts were administeredorally once daily for five days.results: alkaloids and flavonoids were the most and abundant metabolites in the extracts,respectively. the extract of nauclea latifolia (n. latifolia) and terminalia glaucescens (t.glauscecens) had median lethal dose ld50 of >5000 mg/kg and 3808 mg/kg, respectively.in vivo anti-plasmodial studies revealed that the highest suppression (66.79% and 65.37%)and mean survival days (27.67±1.45 and 30.33±0.33) were recorded for the groups treatedwith 500 mg/kg n. latifolia or t. glaucescens, respectively. the infected but untreated groupssurvived only for 9.33±0.88 days while chloroquine treated groups lived for 31.33±0.88 days.the body weight and packed cell volume (pcv) of rats treated with 500 mg/kg. n. latifolia ort. glaucescens significantly increased (p<0.05) compared to those in the infected but untreatedgroups. there was a significant loss (p<0.05) in body weight and pcv of the mice treated with100 mg/kg of t. glaucescens compared to those in other treated groups.conclusion: the extracts exhibited anti-plasmodial activities in mice, therefore, they may beconsidered potential candidates for new anti-malarial agents.