Planta Med 2012; 78 - PI194
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1320882

In vivo antimalarial activity of twigs extracts from Keetia Leucantha

J Bero 1, M Frédérich 2, J Quetin-Leclercq 1
  • 1Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain Drug Research Institute, Pharmacognosy Research Group, Avenue E. Mounier, B1 72.03, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium
  • 2Université de Liège, Drug Research Center, Laboratoire de Pharmacognosie, Av. de l'Hôpital 1, B36, B-4000 Liège, Belgium

In our search for more effective drugs against Plasmodium falciparum and as a continuation of our investigation of plants used traditionally in Benin, a special attention was devoted to Keetia leucantha which is a West African tree. This plant is used in traditional medicine in Benin to treat malaria and is cited in a list of 88 traditional remedies compiled by the “Direction de la Protection Sanitaire” of the Beninese Ministry of Health. The dichloromethane extract of twigs of Keetia leucantha was previously shown to have in vitro antiplasmodial activity (IC50=11.3µg/ml on the chloroquine-sensitive strain 3D7 and 15.8µg/ml on the chloroquine-resistant strain W2). We analysed the in vivo activities of twigs extracts of Keetia leucantha based on the 4-day suppressive test of Peters. The dichloromethane (given intraperitoneally) and aqueous (given per os) extracts exhibited significant (56.8% and 53.0%, respectively, p<0.0001) parasite inhibition in mice at 200mg/kg/day.

The in vivo antimalarial activities of the aqueous and dichloromethane extracts of Keetia leucantha highlighted the possible value of this plant in traditional medicine and could be partially explained by the presence of triterpene acids (ursolic and oleanolic acids) with antiplasmodial activity.