IntroductionStrychnos icaja roots are used in en:tral Africa for the preparation of arrow and ordeal poisons. Amongst the very numerous bases present in these roots, we have. isolated and identified six alkalo'ids. Apart from strychnine,we have obtained three alkaloids previously detected in the leaves: icajine, 19,20 a-epoxynovacine and 19,20 a-epoxy-15-hydroxynovacine. Moreover we have extracted dimeric alkaloids: symmetrical (bi~nordih~drotoxiferine) as well as a new unsymmetrical one (sungucine). Finally, it has been shown that the plant contained also various quaternary alkaloids and particularly Nb-methylstrychninium base which has been found for the first time. Phytochemical and pharmacological experiments are still under study. Le Strychnos icaja BAILLON est cklkbre par l'utilisation de ses racines rouges trks toxiques dans la prkparation de poisons de toutes sortes en Afrique Centrale [I]. Les feuilles et les fruits de cette plante ont ktk ktudiks par BISSET et al. qui en ont isolk 16 alcaloi'des monomkres [3-61. Par contre, les racines n'ont fait l'objet que d'une ktude sommaire, qui a cependant permis SAND-. BERG et al. d'isoler et' d'identifier la strychnine et la 12-hydro~ystr~chnine [7]. Les essais prkliminaires que nous avons alors rkalisCs sur les racines en notre possession ont fait apparattre une richesse alcaloi'dique peu commune (lOO/o de bases tertiaires et 2,5O/o de bases quaternaires) et la prksence de trks nombreux alcaloi'des [8]. Downloaded by: Universite Laval. Copyrighted material.
An aqueous decoction (dried extract), an 80 % methanolic extract from Morinda morindoides (Rubiaceae) leaves, and five iridoids isolated from the 80 % methanolic extract were evaluated in vitro for their activity against Entamoeba histolytica and their cytotoxicity. The aqueous decoction and the 80 % methanolic extract exhibited a promising antiamoebic activity with IC (50) values of 3.1 +/- 1.7 and 1.7 +/- 0.6 microg/mL, respectively. All tested iridoids displayed antiamoebic activity, the most active being epoxygaertneroside (IC (50): 1.3 +/- 0.4 microg/mL) and methoxygaertneroside (IC (50): 2.3 +/- 0.7 microg/mL) followed by gaertneroside, acetylgaertneroside and gaertneric acid with IC (50) values of 4.3 +/- 1.8, 5.4 +/- 1.4 and 7.1 +/- 1.4 microg/mL, respectively. Synergistic effects between the iridoids tested, or with other constituents, may explain the high activity of the extracts. All extracts and iridoids were devoid of any cytotoxic effect against MT-4 cells at the highest test concentration of 250 microg/mL. These findings support at least in part the traditional use of Morinda morindoides leaves for the treatment of amoebiasis in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Strychnos icaja BAILL is a well-known tetanizing poison, containing strychnine and 12-hydroxy-derivative arnongst rnany other tertiary alkaloids. We have studied quaternary alkaloids of S. icaja root Adresse: Service de Pharmacognosie
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