Antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activities of Catatia cordata Humbert (Compositae) and Symphonia eugenioides Baker (Clusiaceae), two endemic plants of Madagascar

Madagascar has an important diversity of endemic plants. However, this resource is little explored. Symphonia eugenioides and Catatia cordata are two endemic species of Madagascar which havenʼt yet been subjected to any biological nor chemical studies. The present research aimed to evaluate the antiplasmodial activity of these species. The purpose is to find novel antimalarial compound within these species. The antiplasmodial activity of dichloromethane and methanol extracts of S. eugenioides (bark) and C. cordata (leaves) were evaluated against the chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum strain (W2). The cytotoxicity was also tested on human melanoma A2058 and human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cell lines ([Table 1]). The dichloromethane extracts of S. eugenioides and C. cordata showed the best antiplasmodial activity, with IC₅₀ values of 7.70 ± 0.62 and 9.23 ± 1.77 µg/mL, respectively. The dichloromethane extract of S. eugenioides had also a significant cytotoxic activity against A2058 and MDA-MB-231cell lines with IC₅₀ values of 7.17 ± 3.33 and 14.48 ± 6.48 µg/mL, respectively. The different chromatographic analysis (LC-DAD and TLC) indicated the presence of ursolic acid and oleanolic acid in dichloromethane extract of S. eugenioides while chlorogenic acid was present in methanolic extract of C. cordata. This is the first report on antiplasmodial, cytotoxic activities and chemical content for S. eugenioides and the first findings on species belonging Catatia genus. The results have indicated that these two plants can potentially be used to treat malaria. S. eugenioides may also contain some potent active compounds for developing anticancer agent.

Table 1 Antiplasmodial activity and cytotoxicity of Catatia cordata and Symphonia eugenioides crude extracts.

Species	Extracts	Antiplasmodial activity	Cytotoxicity		Selectivity index
		W2	A2058	MDA-MB-231	A2058/W2	MDA-MB-231/W2
		IC50 (µg/mL)	IC50 (µg/mL)	IC50 (µg/mL)
* ng/mL
C. cordata	Dichloromethane	9.23 ± 1.77	> 50	> 50	> 5	> 5
	Methanol	63.39 ± 23.17	> 50	> 50	> 0.78	> 0.78
S. eugenioides	Dichloromethane	7.70 ± 0.62	17.17 ± 3.33	14.48 ± 6.48	2.23	1.88
	Methanol	21.81 ± 7.40	> 50	> 50	> 2	> 2
Artemisinin		3.29 ± 0.87*

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publication History

Article published online:
12 December 2022