In vitro antimalarial activity of ashitaba root extracts (Angelica keiskei K.)

Abstract

Malaria is an infectious disease transmitted by Anopheles sp mosquitoes which is still a significant health problem in Indonesia. West Nusa Tenggara is one of the provinces in Indonesia which is the second highest incidence of malaria, about 1.190 cases in 2017. Chalcones is one of the compounds indicated having antimalarial activity. Ashitaba (Angelica keiskei K.) is one of the plants that is rich in chalcone and thrives in West Nusa Tenggara. This study aims to determine the antimalarial activity by in vitro assay of Ashitaba root extract. This study used a type of true experimental research with a post-test only control group design approach in vitro against the Plasmodium falciparum strain 3D7 with sample concentrations of of 100μg/ml, 10μg/ml, 1 μg/ml, 0.1μg/ml and 0.01μg/ml. The results showed that Ashitaba root extract had inhibitory activity as indicated by IC50 value of 16.091μg/ml compared to chloroquine as positive control with IC50 value of 0.007μg/ml. Ashitaba root extracts can be categorized as one of the antimalarial agents. The isolation of compounds from Ashitaba seems interest for further antimalarial studies.