The therapeutic efficacy of
antimalarial drugs and their effect on various organs in the form of surface morphological deformations can be analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Present study has been undertaken on Plasmodium berghei (NK-65), a lethal rodent
malaria parasite, to monitor the morphological changes in blood cells induced by the treatment with combination of
artesunate and homeopathic medicine . Combination
therapy of
artesunate (100 mg/kg) and China ϕ was found to be highly effective in clearing the blood stage
infection of Plasmodium berghei and it also enhanced the mean survival time (28 ± 0 days) of mice. Not much morphological changes were induced on WBCs and RBCs of mice treated with combination
therapy but in treated groups the number of live PMN cells was more as observed in AO/EB staining. In normal mice the mononuclear cells were both smooth surfaced and layered surfaced, whereas, polymorphonuclear cells were having finger like projections. The combination of
artesunate and China was found to be very effective and did not cause any alteration on the surface of blood cells as observed in SEM.