Evaluation of antiplasmodial activity of medicinal plants from North Indian Buchpora and South Indian Eastern Ghats

Kaushik et al. Malaria Journal Evaluation of antiplasmodial activity of medicinal plants from North Indian Buchpora and South Indian Eastern Ghats Naveen K Kaushik 1 2 Asokan Bagavan 0 Abdul A Rahuman 0 Abdul A Zahir 0 Chinnaperumal Kamaraj 0 Gandhi Elango 0 Chidambaram Jayaseelan 0 Arivarasan V Kirthi 0 Thirunavukkarasu Santhoshkumar 0 Sampath Marimuthu 0 Govindasamy Rajakumar 0 Santosh K Tiwari 2 3 Dinkar Sahal 1 0 Unit of Nanotechnology and Bioactive Natural Products, Department of Zoology, C. Abdul Hakeem College , Melvisharam 632509, Vellore District, Tamil Nadu , India 1 Malaria Research Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg , New Delhi 110067 , India 2 Department of Bioscience & Biotechnology, Banasthali University , P.O. Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan 304 022 , India 3 Present address: Department of Genetics, Maharshi Dayanand University , Rohtak, Haryana 124001 , India Background: Development of resistance against the frontline anti-malarial drugs has created an alarming situation, which requires intensive drug discovery to develop new, more effective, affordable and accessible anti-malarial agents. Methods: Inspired by their ethnobotanical reputation for being effective against febrile diseases, antiplasmodial potential of ethyl acetate extracts (EAE) and methanol extracts (ME) of 17 medicinal plants collected from the Eastern Ghats of South India and Buchpora, North India were explored against Plasmodium falciparum in vitro using the SYBR Green assay. The results were validated both by confirmation that the fall in fluorescence signal was not due to quenching effects mediated by phytochemical extracts and by Giemsa-stained microscopy. Results: Using EAE or ME, promising antiplasmodial activity (IC50 Pf3D7 20 g/ml), was seen in Aerva lanata (Whole aerial parts-EAE), Anisomeles malabarica (Leaf-EAE), Anogeissus latifolia (bark-EAE), Cassia alata (leaves-EAE), Glycyrrhiza glabra (root-EAE), Juglans regia (seed-ME), Psidium guajava (leaf-ME and EAE) and Solanum xanthocarpum (Whole aerial parts-EAE). EAEs from leaves of Couroupita guianensis, Euphorbia hirta, Pergularia daemia, Tinospora cordifolia and Tridax procumbens as also ME from Ricinus communis (leaf and seed) showed good antiplasmodial activity (Pf 3D7 IC50 21 - 40 g/ml). Moderate activity (Pf 3D7 IC50: 40-60 g/mL) was shown by the leaf EAEs of Cardiospermum halicacabum, Indigofera tinctoria and Ricinus communis while the remaining extracts showed marginal (Pf 3D7 IC50 60 to >100 g/ml) activities. The promising extracts showed good resistance indices (0.41 - 1.4) against the chloroquine resistant INDO strain of P. falciparum and good selectivity indices (3 to > 22.2) when tested against the HeLa cell line. Conclusion: These results provide validity to the traditional medicinal usage of some of these plants and further make a case for activity-guided purification of new pharmacophores against malaria. - Background In the absence of a credible vaccine and with emergence of resistance to almost all anti-malarial drugs, the dream of eradication of malaria appears to be a huge challenge. Caused by a protozoan parasite, malaria remains one of the dreaded diseases of the developing world, killing 367,000755,000 people and causing disease in 124283 million people annually [1]. The most severe manifestations of malaria are caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Even as malaria has been affecting both the economic and emotional aspects of mankind for a long time, the relief against malaria has been coming in the form of herbal treatments, such as cinchona bark and Qing Hao leaves, which gave quinine and artemisinin respectively. The quinoline-based quinine first and chloroquine later proved to be effective therapies against malaria till resistance against quinolines began to surface and spread to large parts of the world [2]. Against this scenario, artemisinin proved to be a smart, fast acting, potent drug against chloroquine-resistant malaria. However, artemisinin resistance in the form of delayed clearance of the parasite is now on the horizon[3] conjuring images of a world where mankind may be left with no effective drug against malaria. This calls for a rigorous search for novel anti-malarials. One optimistic source for new affordable treatments against malaria lies in the use of traditional herbal remedies. Despite the recent successes in rational drug design and synthetic chemistry techniques by pharmaceutical companies, natural products and particularly medicinal plants have remained an important source of new drugs [4,5]. A definite virtue with medicinal plants is the rich ethnopharmacological history of traditional knowledge and usage associated with them. It is quite possible that their use as nutrients or spices may already be providing a significant degree of protection to people at large against malaria. However if the gist of traditional knowledge can be validated by scientific experiments, affordable and dependable cures can be found against the drug resistant dreaded forms of malaria. Further such exploratory endeavours can pave the path for identifying novel pharmacophores against malaria, which can be chemically synthesized and fine tuned as drugs of the future. With this perspective in mind, here is described the antiplasmodial potential of the extracts of 17 medicinal plants having the reputation of their usage against febrile diseases. Methods Methodology of collection of ethnomedical information Recommendation of traditional healers and available literature were referred for selection and collection of medicinal plants. Information regarding the pharmacological usage of these plants is given in Additional file 1. Identification and collection of plant materials The seeds of Juglans regia (Juglandaceae) were collected from the Buchpora, Srinagar district, (34814N 75216 E, altitude 2743 m) of Jammu and Kashmir, North India between October and November 2010 (Figure 1). The leaves of Anisomeles malabarica (Lamiaceae), Psidium guajava (Myrtaceae), Tridax procumbens (Asteraceae), leaves and seeds of Ricinus communis (Euphorbiaceae), Figure 1 Sites of collection of medicinal plants from North Indian Buchpora and South Indian Eastern Ghats. and the flowers of Gloriosa superba (Liliaceae), Pergularia daemia, Tinospora cordifolia, bark of Anogeissus latifolia, root of Glycyrrhiza glabra, and whole aerial parts of Solanum xanthocarpum were collected from the tropical region of Javadhu Hills, Jamunamarathur, Tiruvannamalai district (123610N, 0785307E, altitude 705 m), Tamil Nadu, South India (Figure 1). The leaves of Cardiospermum halicacabum, Cassia alata, Couroupita guianensis, Euphorbia hirta, Indigofera tinctoria and whole aerial parts of Aerva lanata were collected from the Eastern Ghats, Kombaikkadu, Yercaud, Salem district (114620N, 78125E, altitude 1,515 m), Tamil Nadu, South India. The taxonomic identifications of collected samples we (...truncated)