Isolation and identification of potential antimalarial compounds from endemic plants of Reunion Island

Malaria is known as the most important parasitic disease around the world with 584 000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2013 [1]. Due to the problem of increased parasite resistance, natural products from endemic plants of Reunion Island, hot spot of promising biodiversity, could represent an important source of new antimalarial drugs. The aim of this thesis research focuses on the evaluation of potential antiplasmodial activity of medicinal plants from Reunion Island. A global screening of plants extracts from Reunion Island was performed on Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 chloroquine-sensitive strain revealed by colorimetric method as described in previous reports [2]. Monimia rotundifolia was then selected due to its promising in vitro activity against Plasmodium. Bioguided fractionation was realized using Prep HPLC techniques and led to the isolation of aporphine-type alkaloids from Monimia rotundifolia leaves dichloromethane extract. Further investigations are in process to confirm the antiplasmodial activities of these alkaloids and to determine their structures.
References: [1] WHO, World Malaria report 2014. [2] Jansen O. et al., Evaluation of 13 selected medicinal plants from Burkina Faso for their antiplasmodial properties. J Ethnopharmacol 2010, 130:143-150.