Abstract

Olasehinde G. I.*, Ayanda O. I. , Ajayi A. A. and Nwabueze A. P.

Studies were carried out to determine the antiplasmodial activity of crude n-hexane and ethanolic seed extracts of Moringa oleifera using cold extraction method. Twenty-four albino mice (Mus musculus) induced intraperitoneally with chloroquine sensitive Plasmodium berghei strain were divided into 4 groups and treated at three concentrations viz: 50, 100 and 200 ml/kg. Positive control was set up with chloroquine diphosphate while negative control was set up with olive oil. The mice models were treated for 72 h. For the ethanolic extract, a parasite inhibition rate of 61% was observed at concentration 50 ml/kg, 65% at concentration 100 ml/kg and 100% at concentration 200 ml/kg in day 3 after treatment. In n-hexane extract of the seeds of M. oleifera, plasmodial inhibition rate of 61% was observed at concentration 50 ml/kg, 70% at concentration 100 ml/kg and 97% at concentration 200 ml/kg after treatment for 72 h. A 100% inhibition rate was observed for mice treated with 25 mg/kg of standard chloroquine diphosphate after day 3 of treatment while parasitaemia increased from 48 on day 0 to 86 after day 3 for mice treated with olive oil. Overall, crude ethanolic extract of M. oleifera seed showed higher parasite inhibition activity than the crude n-hexane extract.