Pharmacological screening of some traditionally-used antimalarial plants from the Democratic Republic of Congo compared to their ecological taxonomic equivalence in Madagascar

Abstract

Hydro-alcoholic extracts of some plant species growing in two different geographical regions (Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar) were evaluated for their inhibitory effects on two malaria parasites strains (P. falciparum FcM29 & P. yoelii subsp nigeriensis) and cytotoxicity towards leukaemia P-388 cell lines. Results indicate that, the antiplasmodial activity of tested plants varied geographically. Plants growing in continent ecosystem are more active in vitro while their ecological equivalence inhabiting island ecosystems are more active in vivo. It would be conclude that, the development of phytomedicines from plants of different geographical regions selected by bioguided fractionation would allow the populations to reduce the health care cost. The chemotaxonomic approach has also permitted us to detect moderate antiplasmodial activities in Neobegua mahafaliensis, a plant species not previously reported as antimalarial in the traditional medicine knowlegde of Madagascar. The use of a pharmacological property such as the antimalarial activity, in this study, in order to establish genetic filiations between the plants species is an original approach.

Antimalarial efficacy and toxicity evaluation of 80% ethanol extracts from the stem bark of <i>Enantia olivacea, Garcinia punctata</i> and <i>Massularia acuminata</i>

“…The efficacy of Enantia olivacea and Garcinia punctata in both parasite suppression and survival time may be attributable to alkaloids, flavonoids and tannins present in their ethanolic extracts (data not shown). Indeed, many compounds belonging to these phytochemical groups were previously reported to exhibit antimalarial activity (Ambe et al, 2006;Bero et al, 2009;Ngbolua et al, 2011).…”

Antiplasmodial, cytotoxic activities and characterization of a new naturally occurring quinone methide pentacyclic triterpenoid derivative isolated from Salacia leptoclada Tul. (Celastraceae) originated from Madagascar

“…The cell suspension (1% parasitaemia) was distributed at 0.2 mL per well containing the dried test extract in triplicate alongside untreated controls, and the plates were shaken vigorously using a microculture plate shaker. The culture was then incubated at 37 °C for 18 h under microaerophilic conditions obtained with the candle jar method [15] . Tritiated hypoxanthine with a specific activity of 14.1 Ci/mmol (DuPont NEN, Boston, USA) was then added to each well (0.5 µCi per well) and the incubation continued at 37 °C in the required atmosphere for a further 24 h. The contents of the well were then incubated at -30 °C and unfrozen at 50 °C to lyse the cells, harvested by filtration on glass filter papers using a Skatron apparatus and finally washed several times with water.…”

Ethnobotanical and Ecological Studies of Plants Used in the Treatment of Diabetes in Kwango, Kongo Central and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

“…This is why people are turning to traditional herbal medicine which is less expensive and which they consider as effective as modern therapy. To this end, World Health Organization (WHO) reports that in Africa, more than 80% of the population uses traditional medicine to provide primary health care in both urban and rural areas [5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a reservoir of both faunal and floristic biodiversity [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Its flora is full of medicinal plants of biopharmaceutical interest and capable of providing new lead molecules.…”