In Vitro Anti‐Plasmodial Activity of Trigonella foenum–graecum L.

Abstract

Developing countries, where malaria is one of the most prevalent diseases, still rely on traditional medicine as a source for the treatment of this disease. For the present study, Trigonella foenum-graecum L. (fenugreek) were collected from Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India. The test plant has been used in India by traditional healers for the treatment of fever as well as other diseases. The active principle was extracted out in different solvent systems to assess the anti-plasmodial potential, with an aim that they can further be utilized to formulate drugs. In vitro anti-plasmodial assay of the extracted fractions of fenugreek leaves was carried out using laboratory adapted chloroquine sensitive and resistant Plasmodium falciparum isolates. Schizont maturation inhibition assay was adopted to analyze the potential of the extracts. Ethanol extract (50%) seemed to possess profound anti-plasmodial activity with IC50 value of 8.75 ± 0.35 µg ml−1 and 10.25 ± 0.35 µg ml−1 against chloroquine sensitive and resistant P. falciparum isolates, respectively. Among the investigated six fractions of the plant extracts, two were found to have significant anti-plasmodial activity with IC50 values <10 µg ml−1, namely ethanol and butanol extracts. Two extracts chloroform and ethyl acetate showed moderate activity with IC50 values ranging from 10 to 20 µg ml−1, and the other two extracts, hexane and water appeared to be inactive with IC50 values >85 µg ml−1. In addition, preliminary phytochemical screening of the various extracts indicated the presence of alkaloids, saponin, tannin like phenolic compounds, flavonoids and steroids.

Antiplasmodial potential of the African mistletoe: Agelanthus dodoneifolius Polh and Wiens

“…These workers proposed that a plant with an IC 50 of less than 50 μg/ml has a moderate antimalarial activity. Although A. dodoneifolius (21.54 μg/ml) has a moderate antiplasmodial activity compared to the standard chloroquine phosphate (0.050 μg/ml), this result is similar to those obtained from other medicinal plants with high antiplasmodial potential[29]. The relatively higher values of IC 50 obtained from the extract may be due to crude nature of the bioactive materials.…”

Toxicity studies on Trigonella foenum-graecum L. seeds used in spices and as a traditional remedy for diabetes

“…The crude infusion of the fenugreek seeds is used as tonic, carminative, antispasmodic (Duke, 2001), antidiabetic (Shani et al, 1974;Puri et al, 2002;Mondal et al, 2004), antioxidant (Thirunavukkarasu et al, 2003;Dixit et al, 2005), cytoprotective (Pandian et al, 2002), hepato-protective (Kaviarasan et al, 2007) anti-inflammatory (Vyas et al, 2008;Malviya et al, 2010), antimalarial control (Khater and Shalaby, 2008;Palaniswamy et al, 2008); antifungal (Haouala et al, 2008), antineoplastic (Sur et al, 2001;Amin et al, 2005), anti thyroid hormone (Kar and Tahiliani, 2003), immunostimulant (Bin-Hafeez et al, 2003), hypocholesterolaemic (Valette et al, 1984;Narender et al, 2006), diuretic and as a remedy against kidney stones (Ahsan et al, 1989;Rohini et al, 2009). Several such claims were confirmed experimentally.…”

Optimised production of L-glutaminase: A tumour inhibitor from Aspergillus flavus cultured on agroindustrial residues

“…40 fungal species used in this study were isolated from various substrates like soya sauce, fungal infected coconut (wet kernel) and spoiled bread (Palaniswamy et al, 2008). The fungal cultures were maintained on potato-dextrose agar, incubated at 30°C for 7 days and then stored at 4°C until use.…”