Effects of Short-Term Diet of CucumisMeloand Sesamum Indicum Seeds on the Parasite Load, Immune Response, and Health of Mice Infected with Plasmodium Berghei

Abstract

his study assessed the impact of Melon (Cucumismelo) seeds and Sesame (Sesamumindicum) seeds on the parasite load, immune response and health of mice infected with Plasmodium berghei. Fourty-five Albino mice used in this research were randomly distributed to five groups (1-5); Group 1 was fed a diet containing 2.6g of Melon seeds, Group 2 a diet containing 2.1g of Sesame seeds, Group 3 a diet containing 2.35g of Melon-sesame combination, while Groups 4 and 5 served as control groups. The percentage of parasitaemia in mice infected with Plasmodium berghei but not treated with the short-term diet was 6.78 ± 0.06%. However, feeding the mice a combination of melon and sesame in a short-term diet significantly reduced (p<0.05) the parasite load to 2.67 ± 0.56%. Similarly, using a single short-term diet of either melon (1.47 ± 0.31%) or sesame (2.33 ± 0.90%) also resulted in a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the percentage of parasitaemia compared to the negative control. A short-term diet combining melon and sesame reduced parasite load by 64%. When fed individually, the short-term diets of melon and sesame led to chemo-suppression rates of 66% and 78%, respectively, with the single melon diet demonstrating the greatest effectiveness among the three treatment options. However, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the chemosuppressive activity among the three types of short-term diets administered. The result also showed that the infection with P. berghei resulted in a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the weight of the negative control group when compared to the normal group. Feeding the infected mice, a combination or single diet of melon and sesame seeds did not lead to a significant improvement (p < 0.05) in their weights compared to the negative control and the healthy uninfected group.