Comparison between the effects of ethanolic extract of Artemisia annua and chloroquine on Plasmodium berghei in white mice

Considering the importance of using native and traditional herbal medicines in the treatment of malaria, we made a comparison between the effects of an ethanolic extract of Artemisia annua and chloroquine on Plasmodium berghei in Sourian mice. In this study 50 Sourian mice were divided into 10 groups, each group consisted of five mice. The evaluation was done according to the Peters test. Nine of ten groups were infected with P. berghei. The first 6 groups were given extracts of Artemisia annua at different concentrations. The seventh and eighth groups received chloroquine and placebo, respectively. The ninth group received no treatment (control group).The tenth group was not infected with Plasmodium berghei and did not receive any treatment and was used for determination of accidental mortality of the mice. In each group, the levels of parasitaemia were determined on the 4th & 7th days, and compared with those of the control group. To find the most effective concentration, the test was repeated with 55 mice divided into 11 groups using limited spectrum of drug concentrations. We used SPSS software and T-test for data analysis. The results indicated that Artemisia annua extract at the concentrations of 1100 and 1300 mg/kg significantly decreased P. berghei parasitaemia in the infected mice, but at the concentration of 1100 mg/kg Artemisia annua had less toxicity(P<0.05). According to the results of this study Artemisia annua at the concentration of 1100 mg/kg showed considerable effect on P. berghei.