Antimalarial, Antioxidant, and Toxicological Evaluation of Extracts of Celtis africana, Grosseria vignei, Physalis micrantha, and Stachytarpheta angustifolia

Abstract

In many parts of the world, malaria undoubtedly poses a serious threat to health care systems. Malaria treatment has increasingly become complicated, primarily due to the emergence of widespread resistance of the malaria parasites to cheap and affordable malaria therapeutics. The use of herbal remedies to treat various ailments, including malaria and malaria-like ailments in Ghana is common. We herein report on the antiplasmodial and antioxidant activities as well as toxicological evaluation of four medicinal plants (Celtis africana, Grosseria vignei, Physalis micrantha, and Stachytarpheta angustifolia) commonly used to treat malaria in Ghana. Following Soxhlet extraction of plant samples in ethanol, extracts were screened against Plasmodium falciparum (3D7 strain) in an in vitro antiplasmodial assay. The phosphomolybdenum and DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2 picrylhydrazyl) assays were used to evaluate antioxidant activities while toxicity assessment was carried out in mice using the acute toxicity test and kidney and liver function tests. Extracts from Celtis africana and Physalis micrantha were very active towards the parasites with half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50’s) of 29.1 and 3.5 µg/mL, respectively. Extracts of Grosseria vignei and Stachytarpheta angustifolia were inactive, having IC50 values greater than 50 µg/mL. All extracts exhibited excellent total antioxidant capacities (>800 mg/g AAE) and good DPPH radical scavenging potential (IC50 range of 300–900 µg/mL). The median lethal dose (LD50) of all extracts in the toxicological evaluation was greater than 2000 mg/kg and there was no effect of extracts on the levels and activities of key biomarkers of liver and kidney function. The activities of these plants obtained in this study partly give credence to their folkloric use in herbal medicines and suggest that they could provide promising lead compounds for malaria drug discovery programs.

Allosteric Modulation of the Main Protease (MPro) of SARS-CoV-2 by Casticin—Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations

“…Herbal remedies have existed in folkloric medicine for a long time [17][18][19]. Some of the plants used in such herbal remedies provide elegant structural scaffolds that can serve as lead compounds in drug discovery efforts.…”

In Vivo Antiplasmodial Activity and Toxicological Analyses of the Ethanolic Leaf and Twig Extract of Faurea speciosa Welw. (Proteaceae)

“…Some medicinal plants including Lantana camara , Pteleopsis hylodendron , Morinda lucida , Tetrapleura tetraptera , Khaya senegalensis (Desv) A. Juss , and Jatropha tanjorensis contain potentially hepatotoxic constituents [ 14 , 15 ]; hence, toxicity assessment of plants with proven therapeutic use is of utmost important. Herbal medicines are commonly used to treat malaria infections in Ghana [ 16 , 17 ]. In light of the knowledge that some plants maybe potentially toxic at therapeutic concentrations, it is imperative to evaluate commonly used and potential medicinal plants for their toxicity.…”

Total phenolic, flavonoid contents, and antioxidant activity of three selected Portulaca grandiflora mutants in MV8 generation as a result of recurrent irradiation technique

“…However, the IC 50 of ascorbic acid, one of the positive controls frequently used for in vitro assays, far greater compared to the IC 50 value of the three P. grandiflora genotypes (3.77 µmg -¹). The antioxidant capacity of the three potential genotypes of P. grandiflora was higher than Apium graveolens and Sonchus arvensis that had been analyzed by Sukweenadhi et al [32]; three genotypes of Curcuma aeruginosa reported by Nurcholis et al [26]; and four extracts of medicinal plants evaluated by Laryea [33]. Nevertheless, the methanol extract of Caesalpinia volkensii, Vernonia lasiopus, and Acacia hockii had more promising antioxidant activity than the three examined extracts of P. grandiflora [34].…”