Screening of antiplasmodial efficacy of Ajuga bracteosa Wall ex. Benth

• Published in: Parasitology research (1987) Vol. 108; no. 4; pp. 801 - 805
• Main Authors: Chandel, Sanjeev, Bagai, Upma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Berlin/Heidelberg : Springer-Verlag 01-04-2011; Springer-Verlag; Springer
• Subjects: Ajuga; Ajuga - chemistry; Analysis; Animals; Antimalarials; Antimalarials - isolation & purification; Antimalarials - pharmacology; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Dehydroepiandrosterone; Disease Models, Animal; Dosage and administration; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Drug resistance; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; General aspects and techniques. Study of several systematic groups. Models; Hormones, Sex; Immunology; Inhibitory Concentration 50; Invertebrates; Malaria; Malaria - drug therapy; Medical Microbiology; Medicine, Botanic; Medicine, Herbal; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Microbiology; Original Paper; Parasitic diseases; Phytosterols; Plant Extracts - isolation & purification; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Plant lipids; Plant metabolites; Plants; Plasmodium berghei; Plasmodium berghei - drug effects; Plasmodium falciparum; Rodent Diseases - drug therapy; Survival Analysis; Treatment Outcome; Plasmodium Berghei; Antiplasmodial Activity; Negative Control Group; Chloroquine; Artemisinin; Parasite; Wall
• ISSN: 0932-0113; 1432-1955
• DOI: 10.1007/s00436-011-2250-6

The rising problem of Plasmodium resistance to the classical antimalarial drugs stresses the need to look for newer antiplasmodial components with effective and new mode of action. In the present study, the traditional medicinal plant Ajuga bracteosa has been screened for its antiplasmodial efficacy. The extract was found to possess significant in vitro antiplasmodial efficacy with an IC₅₀ of 10.0 μg/ml. Thus, the extract was further evaluated for its in vivo schizontocidal activity and efficacy in terms of survival time in Plasmodium berghei infected BALB/c mice. The extract at 250, 500, and 750 mg/kg/day exhibited significant (p < 0.0001) blood schizontocidal activity during established infection with enhanced mean survival time comparable to that of standard drug chloroquine, 5 mg/kg/day. The significant schizontocidal activity and enhanced mean survival time of mice stress the need to identify and characterize active antiplasmodial principle from this plant.