STUDY OF CRUDE EXTRACTS OF Ajuga remota BENTH (LABIATAE) AS POTENTIAL ANTI-MALARIAL DRUG

Abstract

Malaria is among the killer diseases in the tropics and the parasite has been noted to develop resistance to many synthetic drugs. The objective of the present study was to screen and test for the efficacy of the crude extracts of different parts of Ajuga remota. Aqueous crude extracts of Ajuga remota, which has been traditionally used to treat fevers and malaria, were used in vivo against Plasmodium berghei malaria infections in mice using four-day suppressive test. Leaves, stems, roots and flowers either boiled wet in water immediately after collection or dried first before boiling in water were then injected intravenously through the tail vein of mice infected with Plasmodium berghei parasite. Chloroquine, a standard antimalarial drug was used as a control. On day four, parasitized blood smears were made from tail strip for determination of parasitaemia and calculation of suppression percentage. The different preparations had different percent suppressive activities against P. berghei parasites. The leaves had the highest antimalarial activity compared to stems, roots and flowers for wet and dry parts, respectively. The antimalarial activity of the leaves was higher than for chloroquine, a conventional drug currently being phased out. These results show that A. remota has potential antimalarial compounds, which need further evaluation to determine activity against human malaria parasites.