Antimalarial potential of kolaviron, a biflavonoid from Garcinia kola seeds, against Plasmodium berghei infection in Swiss albino mice.

Abstract Objective To investigate the antimalarial potential of kolaviron (KV), a biflavonoid fraction from Garcinia kola seeds, against Plasmodium berghei ( P. berghei ) infection in Swiss albino mice. Methods The study consists of seven groups of ten mice each. Groups I, II and III were normal mice that received corn oil, KV1 and chloroquine (CQ), respectively. Groups IV, V, VI and VII were infected mice that received corn oil, CQ, KV1 and KV2, respectively. CQ, KV1 and KV2 were given at 10-, 100- and 200-mg/kg daily, respectively for three consecutive days. Results Administration of KV1 and KV2 significantly ( P P. berghei -infection in the mice by 85% and 90%, respectively, while CQ produced 87% suppression relative to untreated infected group after the fifth day of treatment. Also, KV2 significantly ( P P P. berghei -infected mice. Specifically, serum and hepatic malondialdehyde levels increased by 93% and 78%, respectively in the untreated infected mice. Furthermore, antioxidant indices, viz; superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione-s-transferase, gluathione peroxidase and reduced gluathione decreased significantly ( P P. berghei -infected mice. KV significantly ( P P. berghei -induced decrease in antioxidant status of the infected mice. Conclusions This study shows that kolaviron, especially at 200 mg/kg, has high antimalarial activities in P. berghei -infected mice, in addition to its known antioxidant properties.