IN VITRO EFFECTS OF NATURAL COCOA EXTRACT ON ERYTHROCYTE MEMBRANE AND ASEXUAL ERYTHROCYTIC STAGE OF PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM

CHRISTOPHER ADIKA 124 PAGES (26773 WORDS) Zoology Thesis

Malaria remains a life-threatening disease in the tropical and sub-tropical world, affecting mostly children and pregnant women. One of the biggest threats to malaria control is the ability of the causative parasite to develop resistance to anti-malarials and how quickly the resistance spreads. This makes it necessary for further research to discover new anti-malarial drugs. Plant products offer a great promise in this direction. This study tested the anti-plasmodial activities of crude methanol extract of natural cocoa powder. Cold maceration was used to produce the crude cocoa extract and the flavonoids and phenolic content determined. SYNERGY BRAND (SYBR® ) Green I assay was used to determine the in vitro IC50 of the extract against 3D7 and DD2 strains of Plasmodium falciparum parasites. Subsequently, the effects of the extract on erythrocyte membrane integrity and parasite invasion as well as sorbitol-induced haemolysis were also determined.