Planta Med 2012; 78 - P_82
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1307590

Search for Antimalarial Candidates from Rhamnus staddo

HH Issa 1, 2, Z Ali 1, IA Khan 1, 3
  • 1National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, MS 38677, USA
  • 2Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Dodoma. P. O. Box 259, Dodoma, Tanzania
  • 3Department of Pharmacognosy, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, MS 38677, USA

Rhamnus staddo (Rhamnaceae) has been traditionally used in East Africa to treat malaria, venereal disease and anaplasmosis [1]. Methanol extract of the plant has been reported to show significant antiplasmodial activity [1,2] and its in vivo antimalarial activity in mice against a chloroquine (CQ)-tolerant Plasmodium berghei NK65, was recently reported. Methanolic extract of Rhamnus staddo had statistically significant parasitaemia suppressions of 31.7–59.3% and in combination with CQ, it gave statistically significant and improved suppressions ranging from 45.5 to 85.1% [3]. In a search for potential antimalarial candidates from the plants traditionally used to cure malaria in Africa, a new bianthraquinone,1,1',8,8'-tetrahydroxy-6-methoxy-3,3'-dimethyl-[2,2'-bianthracene]-9,9',10,10'-tetraone (1) together with known anthraquinone, flavonoids and benzofuranone were isolated from R. staddo and characterized using spectroscopic techniques.

Acknowledgement: The underlined author is thankful to US Department of States for Fulbright fellowship. The research was partially supported by USDA Agricultural Research Service Specific Cooperative Agreement No. 58–6408–2-0009. References: [1] Koch A, Tamez P, et al. (2005)J Ethnopharmacol 101: 95–99. [2] Muregi FW, Chhabra SC, et al. (2003)J Ethnopharmacol 84: 235–239. [3] Muregi FW, Ishih A, et al. (2007)J Ethnopharmacol 111: 190–195.