Antimalarial Studies Of The Ethanol Extract Of The Leaves Of Nauclea Latifolia (Rubiaceae)

A large percentage of Nigeria population especially those in rural areas depends on traditional medicine as a source of primary health care including malaria. Nauclea latifolia is one of those plants used in the treatment of malaria especially by the people of Ogidi in Anambra State of Nigeria. They claim that the plant is an effective anti-malaria drug. To verify this claim, there is the need for the investigations into the anti-malarial potential of the leaves extracts of Nauclea latifolia as it is claimed by the natives to have antimalarial activity The leaves of Nauclea latifolia were collected from the wild, and dried for two weeks. 500g was pulverized and marcerated in 1000mls of ethanol for 48hrs with constant shaking. it was then filtered and the procedure was repeated with the marc. The combined filtrates were concentrated under reduced pressure with rotary evaporator. The preliminary phytochemical tests were carried out using standard methods. The anti-malarial screening was conducted using the curative test (established infection) method to assess the efficacy of the extract as therapeutic agent. It was observed from the work that the leaves contain the following secondary metabolites - flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, Carbohydrates, steroids and terpenoids. The ethanol extract of the leaves of Nauclea latifolia was found to be effective against malarial parasites as claimed by the natives from the work done.