In vivo antiparasitic activity of the Thai traditional medicine plant--Tinospora crispa--against Plasmodium yoelii.

We investigated the in vivo antimalarial effect of crude extract of Tinospora crispa, a Thai traditional medicine plant. Mice were inoculated with Plasmodium yoelii then treated with the crude extract of Tinospora crispa at doses of 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg. Mice receiving the dose of 20 mg/kg died on average on Day 8. Mice remained alive longer when treated of the dose of 40 mg/kg or even longer under the treatment of the dose of 80 mg/kg. Surprisingly and interestingly, one mouse from the group in which the dose of 80 mg/kg was administrated is still alive and the parasite was cleared from the blood stream. In conclusion, T. crispa has an in vivo antimalarial effect in dose dependent manner.