Short communicationIn vitro antiplasmodial activity of extracts of Alchornea cordifolia and identification of an active constituent: ellagic acid
Introduction
Traditional treatments to cure malaria are under investigation by numerous teams. Significant success has been achieved with new compounds extracted from plants such as Qinghaosu (artemisinin) (Li and Rieckmann, 1992). In Africa, indigenous plants play an important role in the treatment of a variety of diseases as shown by Phillipson (1995). As a part of our research program consisting of the analysis of the antiplasmodial activities of plants used by traditional healers to treat and cure malaria symptoms, we had previously described Alchornea cordifolia, originating from Ivory Coast, as a good candidate on account of its antiplasmodial activities against a range of chloroquine-sensitive and chloroquine-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum (Mustofa et al., 2000). In continuing of these investigations, we wished to identify the active constituents of the plant. In this report, we present the results of such investigations, which led us to determine ellagic acid as the active constituent of the plant.
Section snippets
Plant extracts
The plants were collected in Ivory Coast and were identified by comparison with authentic specimens. A voucher specimen was deposited at the herbarium of the UFR des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques of Montpellier. The leaves (100 g) were air dried (10 days at 33 °C) and powdered. The powdered dried leaves were successively submitted to Soxhlet extractions for 8 h with chloroform to give after evaporation 1.5 g of dry residue (F1), ether to give 2.8 g of dry residue (F2) and finally with
Results and discussion
The IC50 values obtained with various fractions of the plant on FcM29 with the radioactive method are summarized in Table 1. Data are expressed as the mean±S.D. of the IC50 of at least three independent experiments on different days for each strain. The purpose of this bio-assay-directed phytochemical investigations was to identify the active(s) compound(s) of the plant. According to the fact that the antiplasmodial activity resided preferentially in the ethanolic extract of the leaves rather
Conclusions
Among African medicines, plants are often used by healers to treat diseases identified as malaria (Sofoworo, 1980, Omulokoli et al., 1997). However, since their utilization is always limited to traditional preparations, there is a potential medical interest in determining their active constituents with a view to optimise the utilization of such plants. In this context, A. cordifolia appears to be an excellent example since its principal active constituent, ellagic acid, is present in high
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2018, Phytochemistry LettersCitation Excerpt :The varied popular uses of different plant parts of A. cordifolia have led to numerous modern pharmacological investigations including antibacterial, antifungal, antiplasmodial, spasmolytic, hepatoprotective, reproductive and antiviral activities (Siwe Noundou et al., 2016; Muanza et al., 1994; Tona et al., 2000, 2007; Osadebe et al., 2012; Ajibade and Olayemi, 2015; Ayisi and Nyadedzor, 2003). Earlier phytochemical studies have described the isolation of a variety of compounds belonging to the following classes: tannins and phenolic acids (Lamikanra et al., 1990; Ogungbamila and Samuelsson, 1990; Banzouzi et al., 2002), flavonoids (Lamikanra et al., 1990; Ogungbamila and Samuelsson, 1990; Ajali, 2000), alkaloids (Mavar-Manga et al., 2004) and terpenoids (Siwe Noundou et al., 2016). In a further detailed phytochemical study of A. cordifolia, we report herein the isolation and structural elucidation of two new fatty acid derivatives named deepoxyalchornoic acid (1) and bisalchonoicester (2) together with six known compounds as well as their antibacterial activity.