Abstract

Evaluation of the antimalarial activity of the aqueous leaf extract of Cola acuminata was carried out on mice infected with Plasmodium berghei. Six groups of 10 mice each were used. Groups D, E and F were treated with 50, 150 and 250 mg/Kg body weight of the extract respectively. Group C was treated with 20mg/Kg body weight chloroquine. Groups A and B served as controls. Treatment commenced 3 days after inoculation and lasted 3 days; and 7 days after inoculation, 6 mice from each group were sacrificed; liver function and haematological indices were evaluated. Tail blood was collected from the remaining animals on days 7, 9, 11 and 13 after inoculation for evaluation of parasitaemia. The extract contains alkaloids, phenolics, tannins, flavonoids, saponins, glycosides and terpenoids. Treatment significantly reduced (p<0.05) parasitaemia comparing favourably with chloroquine at the highest dose. Infection caused a significant decrease (p<0.05) in packed cell volume, haemoglobin, red blood cells, platelets, total protein, and the activity of alkaline phosphatase but caused a significant increase (p<0.05) in mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration, white blood cells  and neutrophils and activities of aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase. These were ameliorated by treatment. Leaves of Cola acuminata possess good potentials as antimalarial remedy and improves some of the complications of malaria infection.