Evaluation of in vitro antiplasmodial effect of extracts from seven medicinal plants used to treat malaria in Côte d'Ivoire.

Introduction: Plasmodium falciparum strainshad been increasingly resistant to commonlyused molecules including artemisinin. Itis therefore urges to find new therapeuticalternatives.

Methods: In this study, the antiplasmodialactivity of 21 extracts obtained from sevenplants of the Anthocleista djalonensis,Cochlospermum planchonii, Harunganamadagascariensis, Hoslundia opposita,Mangifera indica, Margaritaria discoidea and Pericopsis laxiflora of the Ivorian pharmacopoeiawas evaluated on the chloroquine sensitive (NF54) and multi-resistant (K1) reference strains andon clinical isolates as well. The technique used was the microtiter method based on fluorescencereading with SYBR Green.

Results: The aqueous extract of the bark of H. madagascariensis and methanolic extracts of P.laxiflora showed the best antiplasmodial activity with IC50 values of 6.16 μg/mL and 7.44 μg/mL, respectively. On the other hand, extracts of M. indica showed a very moderate activitywith IC50 values between 15 μg/mL and 50 μg/mL (5<IC50<50 μg/mL) on the same strains of P.falciparum. Only the aqueous extract of A. djalonensis had IC50 values greater than 50 μg/mL. Thephytochemical analysis showed a strong presence of polyphenols and alkaloids in extracts with acumulative rate of 90.47% and 95.23%, respectively.

Conclusion: The results obtained were also justified by the composition of these plants, whichhave several secondary metabolites involved in the treatment of malaria. The antiplasmodialproperties of these plants could partially justify their use in malaria treatment. Further studies onthese extracts are needed to manufacture a stable galenic formulation for the development of animproved traditional medicine