THE ASSESSMENT OF INDIVIDUAL AND COMBINED ANTIMALARIAL POTENTIAL OF FAGONIA CRETICA AND TAMARIX APHYLLA PLANTS AGAINST PLASMODIUM VIVAX

Abstract

Malaria causes a serious health concern and leads to significant death rates worldwide. Plasmodium vivax contributes to a high rate of infection in the Pakistani human population. Drug resistance, side effects, and cost of current antimalarial treatments have renewed interest in herbal medicine as a possible source of new antiplasmodial medicines. Herein, we analyzed the in vitro antiplasmodial activity using methanolic extracts of Tamarix aphylla and Fagonia cretica leaves individually and in combined form against Plasmodium vivax. The methanolic extracts of crude oil were screened at different dosages in the schizont maturation inhibition assay. The extracts of both plants revealed a concentration-dependent inhibition of parasite growth. The best activity was shown by Fagonia cretica (maximum inhibition 75% at 0.10 mg/mL, like that of Tamarix aphylla (maximum growth inhibition about 75% at the same dose. The combined extract demonstrated much higher inhibition (79%) than the individual extracts, suggesting an additive or weak synergistic effect. The antimalarial efficacy of the plant extracts was less than that of the reference drug artemether but showed promising activity. Our results suggest that the combined plant extracts results showed more significant results than individual plant extracts. The findings give a pharmacological justification for the traditional use of T. aphylla and F. cretica and propose that they could be natural sources of antimalarial medicines. Further in vivo studies and isolation of bioactive constituents are required to confirm both efficacy and safety.