Invitro Antimalarial and Antibacterial Activities of Methanol Stem Bark Extract of Frankincense Tree (Boswellia dalzielii) and Leaves Extract of Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus)

Aim: This research investigated the anti-malarial and antibacterial activities of stem bark methanol extract of Frankincense tree and Kenaf leaves extract on Plasmodium falciparum parasite and against five clinically significant bacteria.

Study Design: Laboratory-experimental design was used for this study.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out between September 2019 and November

2019 at Biochemistry and Microbiology laboratories, Sokoto State University, Sokoto, Nigeria.

Methodology: The in vitro antimalarial activity test was conducted by determining the parasitemia for each sample concentration by manual counting on thin Giemsa smears after a 24-hour incubation with the extracts in order to determine the IC50 values. The antibacterial study was done using a modified agar well diffusion technique.

Results: The testing revealed that methanol stem bark extract of Frankincense tree and Kenaf leaves exhibited good and potent (very good) antimalarial activities against P. falciparum respectively with IC50 values of 1.25 μg/mL and 0.16 μg/mL respectively. They also show good inhibitory activities against E.coli but slight inhibitory activities against the other pathogens tested.

Conclusion: The current study indicates that extracts of these plants exhibit anti-malarial and antibacterial activities and may serve as useful sources of drugs for treatment of malaria caused by P. falciparum parasite as well as bacterial infections caused by the tested bacteria.