Evaluation Of The Antiplasmodial Activity Of Extracts Of Plants Used In Traditional Medicine In Kenya

Abstract

Malaria is still a major public health problem because of resistance to therapeutic drugs. Among strategies for the development of new antimalarial, a study of plants traditionally used in Africa particularly that of Kenya against malaria has been pursued. The present study is to evaluate In vitro antiplasmodial activity of extracts from Kenyan plants commonly used by traditional healers for the treatment of malaria and other diseases. For each species, n-hexane, dichloromethane, and methanol extracts were evaluated on a chloroquine (CQ) -resistant (FcB1-Colombia) and on a CQ-sensitive (F32-Tanzania) strain of Plasmodium. The extracts were tested at 50, 10, 5, 1, 0.5, 0.1 and 0.05 µg/ml. Cytotoxicity on a fibroblast cell line (VERO) was also evaluated for the potentiality active extracts. Ten extracts from six plants with a good selectivity index (SI) whose, Alangium chinense (Lour.) Harms (Alangiaceae) (IC = 2.81 μg/ml; SI= 12.3 and 6.15 μg/ml with SI= 14.4 on FcB1 and F32, respectively), Cadaba farinosa Forssk. (Capparaceae) (IC 50 = 3.05 μg/ml with SI> >32 on FcB1), Schizozygia coffaeoides Baill. (Apocynaceae) (IC = 4.80 μg/ml; SI=14.4 on FcB1) were found to have a promising antiplasmodial activity and should be pursued to characterize the constituents responsible for antiplasmodial activity.