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Anti-plasmodial effects of Azadirachta indica in experimental cerebral malaria: Apoptosis of cerebellar Purkinje cells of mice as a marker

BACKGROUND: Malaria is a major public health problem in the world, but treatment of malaria is becoming more difficult due to increasing drug resistance. Therefore, the need for alternative drugs is acute. AIMS: This study investigated the antiplasmodial and protective effect of an ethanolic extract...

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Autores principales: Farahna, Mohammed, Bedri, Selma, Khalid, Sami, Idris, Mustafa, Pillai, C. Radhakrishna, Khalil, Eltahir A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3338214/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22558559
http://dx.doi.org/10.4297/najms.2010.2518
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author Farahna, Mohammed
Bedri, Selma
Khalid, Sami
Idris, Mustafa
Pillai, C. Radhakrishna
Khalil, Eltahir A.
author_facet Farahna, Mohammed
Bedri, Selma
Khalid, Sami
Idris, Mustafa
Pillai, C. Radhakrishna
Khalil, Eltahir A.
author_sort Farahna, Mohammed
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Malaria is a major public health problem in the world, but treatment of malaria is becoming more difficult due to increasing drug resistance. Therefore, the need for alternative drugs is acute. AIMS: This study investigated the antiplasmodial and protective effect of an ethanolic extract of the leaves from a traditionally used medicinal plant, Azadirachta indica (Neem) in a mouse model of malaria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Swiss albino mice were intraperitoneally infected with 10×10(6) Plasmodium berghei ANKA, a rodent malaria parasite. The presence of parasites was checked by microscopic examination of blood samples daily. Ethanolic extracts of Neem at 300, 500 and 1000 mg/kg were administered intraperitoneally daily for five days from the day parasitaemia reach 5% of parasite inoculation. Intraperitoneal chloroquine and artemether were used as standard drug treatment controls. Symptoms of neurological or respiratory disorder, mortality, weight and temperature were recorded. Histological sections of brain were prepared and examined after staining with hematoxylin-eosin and immunohistochemistry for apoptotic cells. RESULTS: All Neem treatment groups displayed parasitaemia that gradually increased during treatment, and showed signs of terminal illness (i.e. hypothermia, ptosis and convulsions) within 2–4 days post-treatment. In contrast, the chloroquine and artemether groups showed no cerebral malaria symptoms and no deaths. Apoptosis in Purkinje cells, cerebral haemorrhage and oedema were found in some of the mice treated with Neem and chloroquine. CONCLUSIONS: Azadirachta indica (Neem) extract was not protective against malaria symptoms and signs in this mouse model. However, a difference in the number of apoptotic Purkinje cells between the untreated control group and Neem treatment at 500 mg/kg suggests that Neem may have some neuronal protective effect.
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spelling pubmed-33382142012-05-03 Anti-plasmodial effects of Azadirachta indica in experimental cerebral malaria: Apoptosis of cerebellar Purkinje cells of mice as a marker Farahna, Mohammed Bedri, Selma Khalid, Sami Idris, Mustafa Pillai, C. Radhakrishna Khalil, Eltahir A. N Am J Med Sci Original Article BACKGROUND: Malaria is a major public health problem in the world, but treatment of malaria is becoming more difficult due to increasing drug resistance. Therefore, the need for alternative drugs is acute. AIMS: This study investigated the antiplasmodial and protective effect of an ethanolic extract of the leaves from a traditionally used medicinal plant, Azadirachta indica (Neem) in a mouse model of malaria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Swiss albino mice were intraperitoneally infected with 10×10(6) Plasmodium berghei ANKA, a rodent malaria parasite. The presence of parasites was checked by microscopic examination of blood samples daily. Ethanolic extracts of Neem at 300, 500 and 1000 mg/kg were administered intraperitoneally daily for five days from the day parasitaemia reach 5% of parasite inoculation. Intraperitoneal chloroquine and artemether were used as standard drug treatment controls. Symptoms of neurological or respiratory disorder, mortality, weight and temperature were recorded. Histological sections of brain were prepared and examined after staining with hematoxylin-eosin and immunohistochemistry for apoptotic cells. RESULTS: All Neem treatment groups displayed parasitaemia that gradually increased during treatment, and showed signs of terminal illness (i.e. hypothermia, ptosis and convulsions) within 2–4 days post-treatment. In contrast, the chloroquine and artemether groups showed no cerebral malaria symptoms and no deaths. Apoptosis in Purkinje cells, cerebral haemorrhage and oedema were found in some of the mice treated with Neem and chloroquine. CONCLUSIONS: Azadirachta indica (Neem) extract was not protective against malaria symptoms and signs in this mouse model. However, a difference in the number of apoptotic Purkinje cells between the untreated control group and Neem treatment at 500 mg/kg suggests that Neem may have some neuronal protective effect. Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd 2010-11 /pmc/articles/PMC3338214/ /pubmed/22558559 http://dx.doi.org/10.4297/najms.2010.2518 Text en Copyright: © North American Journal of Medical Sciences http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Article
Farahna, Mohammed
Bedri, Selma
Khalid, Sami
Idris, Mustafa
Pillai, C. Radhakrishna
Khalil, Eltahir A.
Anti-plasmodial effects of Azadirachta indica in experimental cerebral malaria: Apoptosis of cerebellar Purkinje cells of mice as a marker
title Anti-plasmodial effects of Azadirachta indica in experimental cerebral malaria: Apoptosis of cerebellar Purkinje cells of mice as a marker
title_full Anti-plasmodial effects of Azadirachta indica in experimental cerebral malaria: Apoptosis of cerebellar Purkinje cells of mice as a marker
title_fullStr Anti-plasmodial effects of Azadirachta indica in experimental cerebral malaria: Apoptosis of cerebellar Purkinje cells of mice as a marker
title_full_unstemmed Anti-plasmodial effects of Azadirachta indica in experimental cerebral malaria: Apoptosis of cerebellar Purkinje cells of mice as a marker
title_short Anti-plasmodial effects of Azadirachta indica in experimental cerebral malaria: Apoptosis of cerebellar Purkinje cells of mice as a marker
title_sort anti-plasmodial effects of azadirachta indica in experimental cerebral malaria: apoptosis of cerebellar purkinje cells of mice as a marker
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3338214/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22558559
http://dx.doi.org/10.4297/najms.2010.2518
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