Abstract
In the course of the search for new antimalarial compounds, a study of plants traditionally used against malaria in Burkina Faso was made. An ethnobotanical study permitted the identification of plants currently used by the traditional healers and herbalists. Two plants among them were selected for further study: Pavetta crassipes (K. Schum) and Acanthospermum hispidum (DC). Alkaloid extracts of these plants were tested in vitro against two reference clones of Plasmodium falciparum: the W2 chloroquine-resistant and the D6 chloroquine-sensitive strains. Significant inhibitory activity was observed with Pavetta crassipes (IC50=1.23 µg/ml) and A. hispidum (IC50=5.02 µg/ml). Antiplasmodial activity was also evaluated against six Plasmodium falciparum isolates from children between 4 and 10 years old. The IC50 values for the alkaloid extracts were in the range 25–670 ng/ml. These results indicated that P. falciparum wild strains were more sensitive to the alkaloid extracts than strains maintained in continuous culture. Moreover, the alkaloid extracts exhibit good in vitro antimalarial activity and weak cytotoxicity against three human cell lines (THP1, normal melanocytes, HTB-66). Isolation and structural determination are now necessary in order to precisely determine the active compounds.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the AUF agency, the French government (Foreign Affairs Ministry) and the University of the Mediterranean for the complete financial support of this work realized during three visits to France. We thank also the teams of the different laboratories of Pharmacognosy, Parasitology and of the research centers (CRSBAN, CNRFP) for their help in the realization of this study.
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Sanon, S., Azas, N., Gasquet, M. et al. Antiplasmodial activity of alkaloid extracts from Pavetta crassipes (K. Schum) and Acanthospermum hispidum (DC), two plants used in traditional medicine in Burkina Faso. Parasitol Res 90, 314–317 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-003-0859-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-003-0859-9