Background: The antimalarial activity and lipid profiles of Methyl
Jasmonate (MJ) were investigated against established malaria infection
in vivo using BALB/c mice. Methods: Arteether (AE) and chloroquine (CQ)
were used as reference drugs while ethanol was used as the vehicle for
drug delivery for MJ. Results: Mice treated with 10 and 25 mg/kg MJ
showed a remarkable reduction in percentage parasitemia by 68.3% and
78.2% on day 10(post treatment) respectively while 45.4% and 87.2%
reduction in percentage parasitemia were observed in the group treated
with 50 mg/kg on day 3 and 10 ( post treatment ) respectively. The
highest mean survival time was observed in CQ followed by AE and MJ in
dose-dependent manner. A progressive decrease in packed cell volume
(PCV) was observed in infected untreated mice which led to the death of
all the mice by day 9 (post treatment). Infected mice treated with MJ
showed reduced level of HDL and LDL compared with infected untreated
group. As the dose of MJ increased in infected mice cholesterol levels
increased while there was reduction in triglyceride. Conclusion:
Overall there was marked decrease in parasitemia in Plasmodium berghei
infected mice treated with graded doses of MJ but appears to have
reduced antimalarial activity compared with CQ and AE