In vitro antiplasmodial activity of extracts and fractions from seven medicinal plants used in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Introduction
Human malaria is one of the most important health problems in tropical and subtropical regions. The widespread resistance of Plasmodium falciparum against classical antimalarial drugs through the tropics (Olliaro and Yuthavong, 1999) has led to a search of new drugs with new modes of action. The search for new remedies from medicinal plant species used for the treatment of malaria depends on the accurate and specific ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological information obtained from local healers.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a research programme was initiated for the evaluation of the antiamoebic (Tona et al., 1999a) and antiplasmodial activity (Tona et al., 1999b) of medicinal plant species used for the treatment of amoebiasis and malaria in Congolese traditional medicine. The present study deals with the partition of the total EtOH extracts from some plant species which have shown an interesting antimalarial activity in our previous investigation, that is, Cassia occidentalis, Euphorbia hirta, Garcinia kola, Morinda morindoides, Phyllanthus niruri, Tetracera poggei and Vernonia amygdalina, with the aim to locate active fractions.
Section snippets
Experimental section
TLC was carried out on Silica gel 60 F254 Merck (layer thickness 0.25 mm). Betunilic acid, ellagic acid and lupeol were obtained from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO, USA). Quercetin was obtained from Carl Roth GmbH, Germany. 1,8-Dihydroxyanthraquinone was isolated from Morinda morindoides leaves. All chemicals were of highest purity.
Plant materials
All plants (Table 1) were collected in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) in August 1997. They were identified by Mr. N. Nlandu of the Institut
Results and discussion
The results from the in vitro antiplasmodial testing of 7 EtOH extracts and 20 fractions from the partition of their respective initial EtOH extracts are presented in Table 2. With regard to the ethanolic extract A, a high antiplasmodial activity (IC50<3 μg/ml) was observed for Cassia occidentalis leaves, Euphorbia hirta, Garcinia kola and Phyllanthus niruri, whereas, Vernonia amygdalina and especially Tetracera poggei and Morinda morindoides were less active. However, the petroleum ether
Acknowledgments
This biological investigation is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Dr. P.N. Ngimbi of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa for its enthusiasm and its active scientific contribution to our project on the evaluation of the antimalarial activity of some medicinal plants used for the treatment of malaria in Congolese traditional medicine. All technicians of this Institute are acknowledged for their technical assistance.
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