In vivo antiplasmodial activities and acute toxicity assessment of two plant cocktail extracts commonly used among Southwestern Nigerians

Discovering and developing the desired antimalarials continue to be a necessity especially due to treatment failures, drug resistance, limited availability and affordability of antimalarial drugs and costs especially in poor malarial endemic countries. This study investigated the efficacies of two plant cocktails; CtA and CtB, selected based on their traditional usage. Efficacies of the cocktail extracts, chloroquine and pyrimethamine against Plasmodium berghei berghei were evaluated in mice using the suppressive, curative and prophylactic test models, after oral and intraperitoneal acute toxicity determination of the plant cocktails in accordance with Lorke’s method. Data was analyzed using SPSS software version 23.0 with level of significance set at P < 0.05. The median lethal dose was determined to be higher than 5000 mg/kg body weight orally for both CtA and CtB; and 316.23 mg/kg body weight intraperitoneally for CtA. Each cocktail exhibited high dose dependent Plasmodium berghei berghei inhibition which was 96.95% and 99.13% in the CtA800 mg/kg and CtB800 mg/kg doses in the curative groups respectively, 96.46% and 78.62% for CtA800mg/kg and CtB800mg/kg doses in the suppressive groups respectively, as well as 65.05% and 88.80% for CtA800mg/kg and CtB800mg/kg doses in the prophylactic groups respectively. Throughout the observation periods, the standard drugs, chloroquine phosphate and pyrimethamine maintained higher inhibitions up to 100%. These findings demonstrate that CtA and CtB possess good antimalarial abilities and calls for their development and standardization as effective and readily available antimalarial options. The acute toxicity results obtained underscore the importance of obtaining information on toxicities of medicinal plant remedies before their administration in both humans and animals.