Abstract:
Dodonaea angustifolia has a wide range of therapeutic applications against various diseases including malaria. This plant is traditionally used for treatment of malaria in different countries including Ethiopia. However, the antimalarial effect and safety of D. angustifolia are not studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate antimalarial activity of Dodonaea angustifolia in Plasmodium berghei infected mice. In the present study, aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts as well as solvent fractions of the aqueous extract of D. angustifolia seeds were investigated for their antimalarial activity using Peters’ 4-day suppressive test method. Different concentrations of the crude extracts and the fractions of the water extract, most active extract, were orally administered to screen for their antimalarial activities. The extracts significantly inhibited parasitemia and prevented packed cell volume reduction (p <0.05) dose-dependently. Crude extracts and fractions of the aqueous extract of D. angustifolia seeds increased the survival time of infected mice. None of the extracts, however, prevented body weight loss. The aqueous extract of D. angustifolia was found to produce 35.79% parasite suppression. From this extract, three fractions were produced by solvent fractionation technique using butanol, chloroform and water and tested in vivo against P. berghei in mice. The butanol fraction was found to be the most active producing inhibition of 48.6% at 100 mg/kg. The test substance observed to be safe with no toxicity on the mice even at 4500 mg/kg. The results of the present work supported the traditional use of the plant against malaria and confirmed the antimalarial activity of the plant. Moreover, antimalarial compounds can be isolated from this plant and tested against human malaria parasite in the future.
