Investigation of antimalarial activity and cytotoxicity profiling of a Bangladeshi plant Syzygium cymosum

Abstract

Introduction: The persistent increase of resistance to existing antimalarials underscores the needs for new drugs. Historically, most of the successful antimalarial are derived from plants. The leaves of the S. cymosum is one of the plant materials used by traditional healers in malaria-endemic areas in Bangladesh for treatment of malaria. Here, we investigated the crude extract and its fractions against chloroquine (CQ)-sensitive 3D7, CQ-resistant Dd2, and artemisinin (ART)-resistant IPC 4912 Mondulkiri strains of Plasmodium falciparum.
 Methodology: The antimalarial activities were tested using HRP II based in-vitro antimalarial drug sensitivity ELISA described by WWARN and half inhibitory concentrations (IC50) were calculated by non-linear regression analysis using GraphaPad Prism. The cytotoxicity of the crude methanolic extract was assessed using the MTT assay on Vero cell line.
 Results: The methanolic crude extract revealed promising activity against 3D7 (IC50 6.28 µg/mL), Dd2 (IC50 13.42 µg/mL), and moderate activity against IPC 4912 Mondulkiri (IC50 17.47 µg/mL). Among the fractionated portions, the chloroform fraction revealed highest activity against IPC 4912 Mondulkiri (IC50 1.65 µg/mL) followed by Dd2 (1.73 µg/mL) and 3D7 (2.39 µg/mL). The crude methanolic extract also demonstrated good selectivity with the selectivity indices of > 15.92, > 7.45, and > 6.91 against 3D7, Dd2, and IPC 4912, respectively when tested against Vero cell line.
 Conclusions: This is the first report on S. cymosum for its putative antimalarial activity, and is imperative to go for further phytochemical analyses in order to investigate possible novel antimalarial drug compound(s).

Prospective Plants with Corroborated Antimalarial Actions: A Review

“…Syzygium cymosum (Lam.) DC., locally known as 'Khudijam' in Bangladesh, can grow up to a height of 15-20m and has plain wide leaves (Hossainey et al, 2020). Tropical and subtropical regions including India, Singapore, Myanmar and Malacca are also home to this plant (Dhar et al, 2016).…”

“…Tropical and subtropical regions including India, Singapore, Myanmar and Malacca are also home to this plant (Dhar et al, 2016). The crude methanol extract of S. cymosum leaves exhibited remarkable efficacy against chloroquine-sensitive 3D7, chloroquine-resistant Dd2 and mild efficacy against artemisinin-resistant IPC 4912 Mondulkiri strains of P. falciparum with the IC 50 value of 6.28μg/ml, 13.42μg/ml and 17.47μg/ml, respectively (Hossainey et al, 2020).…”

Phytochemical, Biological and Computational Investigations of <em>Erythrina fusca</em> Lour. to Assess Antimalarial Property against <em>Plasmodium falciparum</em>

“…Antimalarial assay was performed using HRPII based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method described by Noedl et al and WWARN [20][21][22]. The data is analyzed using GraphPad Prism 8.2 (La Jolla, CA 92037 USA) to construct a non-linear regression graph fit with a sigmoidal dose-response curve and determine the inhibitory concentration (IC50) value for individual samples.…”

Investigation of Antimicrobial Activity and Biocompatibility of Biogenic Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized using Syzigyum cymosum Extract

“…S. cymosum and other members of the genus Syzygium have antibacterial, antifungal, antimalarial, antidiarrheal, and antioxidant propensity. − Phytoconstituents including alkaloids, carbohydrates, glycosides, flavonoids, and tannins are present in S. cymosum . Thus, the secondary metabolites could contribute as reducing as well as capping agents to prepare AgNPs from AgNO 3 solution.…”