Abstract :
[en] Despite some improvements in malaria control, this parasitic disease remains a major public health problem in many African countries, causing about 400 000 deaths/year through the continent, mainly by children under the age of five (WHO, 2015).
In Guinea, the leaves of Mezoneuron benthamianum Baill. are traditionally used to treat malaria (Traore et al., 2013) and showed a good antiplasmodial activity in an antiprotozoal in vitro screening (Traore et al., 2014), as well as promising results in a preliminary small-scale ethnomedical study (unpublished data), encouraging us to continue the study of this plant.
The aim of this work was to evaluate the activity of M. benthamianum leaves extracts against P. falciparum using an in vitro test model (p-LDH assay) and to undertake a bio-guided fractionation to identify the compounds responsible for the activity.
Hydroethanolic extracts (70% v/v) of M. benthamianum leaves showed a moderate in vitro activity against P. falciparum 3D7, with IC50 = 22.5 – 32.6 µg/ml, depending on the batch; while a dark precipitate formed during ethanol evaporation showed higher activity (IC50 = 6,5µg/ml). The bioguided fractionation was performed on this most active fraction and allowed the isolation of three diterpens, two flavonoids, resveratrol, gallic acid and its ethylester, β-sitosterol glucoside and pheophorbide derivatives.
The active compounds belong to several phytochemical classes, including flavonoids, pheophorbide and gallic acid derivatives, contributing together to the global antiplasmodial activity of the hydroalcoholic extract against P. falciparum parasite.
This study gives some concrete evidence to support the ethnopharmacological use of Mezoneuron benthamianum leaves extract in the management of malaria. The active compounds can be further studied for their antiplasmodial potential, as well as their suitability to be used as quality markers for the standardization of this herbal drug from the Guinean traditional pharmacopeia.
