Effect of Allicin and Artesunate Combination Treatment on Experimental Mice Infected with Plasmodium berghei .

Malaria is still a significant health problem in endemic countries and increases Plasmodium resistance to the available antimalarial drugs. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the antimalarial activity of allicin and its combination with artesunate (ART) against rodent malaria Plasmodium berghei ANKA (PbANKA) infected mice. Allicin was prepared in 20% Tween-80. Balb/c mice were inoculated intraperitoneally with 1×10 7 PbANKA-infected erythrocytes and orally given by gavage with the chosen doses of 1, 10, 50, and 100 mg/kg of allicin and 1, 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg of ART once a day for 4 consecutive days. Effective dose 50 (ED 50 ) of allicin and ART was subsequently investigated. Moreover, the combination (1 : 1) of allicin and ART at the doses of their respective ED 50 , ED 50 1/2, ED 50 1/4, and ED 50 1/8 was also carried out. The untreated control was given 20% Tween-80. The results showed that allicin presented a dose-dependent antimalarial activity with significance ( p < 0.05). The ED 50 values of allicin and ART were about 14 and 5 mg/kg, respectively. For combination, allicin and ART showed a synergistic effect at the combination doses of ED 50 , ED 50 1/2, and ED 50 1/4 with significantly ( p < 0.01) prevented reduction of packed cell volume, bodyweight loss, rapid dropping of rectal temperature, and markedly prolonged mean survival time, compared with the untreated control and single treatment. It can be concluded that allicin exerted potential antimalarial activity in single and its combination with ART.