Antimalarial Activity of Some Plants Traditionally Used in Mozambique

Developing countries, where malaria is endemic, depend strongly on traditional medicine as a source for inexpensive treatment of this disease. However, scientific data to validate the antimalarial properties of these herbal remedies are scarce. Consequently, it is important that antimalarial medicinal plants are investigated, in order to establish their efficacy and to determine their potential as sources of new antimalarial drugs. In this study, we evaluated the claimed antimalarial properties of fifty eight crude extracts from fifteen plants used in traditional medicine against malaria and fever, mainly from Southern African regions. The air-dried powdered plant parts (roots, leaves, seeds or bark) or whole plants were extracted, sequentially, with solvents of increased polarity (n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and methanol). Schizontocidal activity was measured using a standard in vitro assay, with 3D7 Plasmodium falciparum strain. From the 58 extracts tested, two of them showed a significant activity (IC50 < 5 μg/mL), and 34.5 % showed a moderate activity (10 < IC50 < 50 μg/mL). A bioassay-guided fractionation of the most active extracts is ongoing.