Phytochemical screening and Antiplasmodial activity of Mundulea antanossarum seeds from Madagascar

Abstract

Malaria is one of the three deadly dangerous infectious diseases and is successfully treated with medicinal plants in endemic regions. This work was carried out with the aim of to investigate the phytochemical screening and to assess the in vitro and in vivo antiplasmodial activities of Mundulea antanossarum seeds extract using two standardized parasites strains (Plasmodium falciparum FcM29-Cameroon and P. yoelii subsp nigeriensis) as model systems. The in vitro antiplasmodial activity of the plant extracts was evaluated by isotopic micro-test, while the in vivo anti-malarial activity was determined by the classical 4-day suppressive test. Chemical screening was done according to standard method. The ethanolic crude extract and Dichloromethane fraction of the seeds of Mundulea antanossarum showed very good in vitro antiplasmodial activity against Plasmodium falciparum with the IC50 values of 1.08 ± 0.072 μg/ml and 0.215 ± 0.008 μg/ml respectively. The in vivo bioassay revealed also that ethanol and dichloromethane soluble extracts have interesting bioactivity with the ED50 values of 5.020 ± 0.563 and 2.500 ± 0.462 mg/ kg bw/day, respectively. The phytochemical screening analysis of Mundulea antanossarum seeds extract revealed the presence of flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins, tannins, and total phenols. However, alkaloids were absent. The present findings validated the ethno-medical claim that the extract of Mundulea antanossarum could be useful in treating malaria and fever. For the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the antimalarial activity of this plant species in the literature.