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Planta Med 1991; 57(4): 341-343
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-960113
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© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Antimalarial Activity of Tanzanian Plants and their Active Constituents: The Genus Uvaria 1

M. H. H. Nkunya2 , H. Weenen2 , 3 , D. H. Bray4 , Q. A. Mgani2 , L. B. Mwasumbi5
  • 2Department of Chemistry, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 35061, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  • 3Quest International, P.O. Box 2,1400 CA Bussum, The Netherlands
  • 4Department of Medical Parasitology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, U.K.
  • 5Department of Botany, University of Dar des Salaam, P.O. Box 35060, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
1 Part 3 in the series Antimalarial activity of Tanzanian plants. For parts 1 and 2, see: (3) and (4)
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Publication History

1990

Publication Date:
05 January 2007 (online)

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Abstract

Petroleum ether, dichloromethane, and methanol extracts of leaves, stem, and root bark of nine Uvaria species: U. dependens, U. faulknerae, U. kirkii, U. leptocladon, U. lucida ssp. lucida, Uvaria sp. (Pande), U. scheffleri, and U. tanzaniae were tested for their in vitro activity against the multidrug resistant Kl strain of Plasmodium falciparum. The IC50 values of the extracts varied between 5 and 500 µg/ml. The most active extracts were obtained from the stem and root bark of U. lucida ssp. lucida and Uvaria sp. (Pande) and the root bark of U. scheffleri, all of which had IC50 values between 5 and 9 µg/ml. Among the compounds isolated, uvaretin, diuvaretin, and (8′,9′-dihydroxy)-3-farnesylindole were the most active (IC50 = 3.49, 4.20, and 2.86 µg/ml, respectively).

Key words

Uvaria speciess - Annonaceae - antimalarial activity - dihydrochalcones - sesquiterpenoids