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Antimalarial activity of seed extracts of Schinus molle against plasmodium berghei in mice﻿


 Background: Due to drug resistance and inefficient eradication techniques, malaria continues to be a major public health issue in countries with low- and middle-income. The seeds of Schinus molle are used in the Ethiopian folklore medicine for the treatment of malaria. However, this claim is not yet supported with scientific researches. Hence, the current study aims to investigate in vivo, antimalarial activity of hydro-alcoholic crude extract and subsequent solvent fraction of Schinus molle seeds on Plasmodium berghe infected mice.Methods: A hydro-alcoholic crude extract and solvent fractions (ethyl acetate, chloroform and aqueous) of Schinus molle seeds were tested at different doses (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg respectively ) to evaluate in vivo antimalarial activity of extracts in a 4-day suppressive, curative, and prophylaxis antimalarial test models. The parasitemia level, packed cell volume, survival of date, body weight, and body temperature were used to evaluate the anti-plasmodia activity of the extracts. One way ANOVA was employed to analyze these data, followed by post hoc Tukey’s HSD multiple comparison test.Results: The chemo-suppressive activities produced by the highest dose (400mg/kg) of crude extract and the aqueous fraction of Schinus molle seeds in the four-day suppressive test were 76.03% and 73.82%(p<0.001), respectively. In the curative test, the highest dose of crude and the aqueous fraction of Schinus molle seeds had 82.12% and 84.30% (p<0.001) suppression activity, respectively. The percentage of suppression in the prophylactic activities test of the aqueous fraction was 79.78% (p<0.001) at 400mg/kg compared to the negative control group. The studied plant extracts were likely anticipated to show rapid rectal temperature reduction and weight loss significantly. Among the extracts, only chloroform fraction has prevented the reduction of packed cell volume, due to the absence of saponin in the fraction. The mice which were treated with crude extract and aqueous fraction survived longer and gained net body weight as compared to vehicle-treated mice (p<0.001).Conclusion: The crude extract and aqueous fraction of Schinus molle seeds possessed significant antimalarial activity. These results collectively indicate that the plant has promising anti-plasmodial activity against Plasmodium berghei. However, further confirmatory studies followed by isolation and characterization of the active antimalarial compound are recommended.