Azeez Lukuman Akande, Akinwande B.A., Bolarinwa I.F., Oboh G
Sclerotium of Pleurotus tuber-regium is rich in bioactive components and special metabolites which exhibit anti-malaria activity. Malaria, as a global life-threatening health challenging disease, affects about half of the world’s population, with Nigeria having the highest cases. This research investigated antimalarial potential of formulated cookies with different formulations of wheat flour and Pleurotus tuber-regium sclerotium flour at ratio 100: 0 %; 90:10, 85:15, 80:20 and 75:25%, respectively. The effect of the cookies on mice temperature, weight, percentage of parasitemia level and haematological parameters were investigated. Ninety albino mice, weighing 18–25 g, were grouped into 9 consisted of ten mice in each group and were infected with standard inoculum of the strain NK65 Plasmodium berghei (chloroquine sensitive) except the normal control group. The treated and untreated mice final temperature ranged from 34.16 to 37.22 °C, the result of weight ranged from 15.63 to 23.66 g, while the parasitemia level in the infected mice fed with the 25% cookies had 67.31% parasite inhibition compared to chloroquine-treated group (74.72%) and the untreated mice (0%). The results revealed a significant (p<0.05) incresead in parasitemia levels in the infected mice fed with the formulated cookies at varying percentage of mushroom inclusion (10%, 15%, 20% and 25%) compared to untreated P. berghei-infected mice group (negative control) and the chloroquine treated P. berghei-infected mice group. This study demonstrated that consumption of cookies formulated with sclerotium of Pleurotus tuber-regium possesses antimalarial potential, owing to its bioactive compounds. The findings suggested that the production of cookies from sclerotium of Pleurotus tuber-regium can serves as functional and nutraceutical foods due to its antimalarial property which can be used as dietary supplement for the management of malaria.