phytochemical and antiplasmodial evaluation of five colombian plants with ethnopharmacological background of antimalarial use

Background: the study of medicinal plants has made it possible to develop products and drugs for the treatment of different diseases. several plants in colombia have a history of popular use for the treatment of malaria. the objective of this work was to provide information on the antiplasmodic and phytochemical activity of five neotropical native plants with a folk use for the treatment of malaria. methods: the ethanolic extract of each species was obtained by percolation method and characterized by thin-layer chromatography (tlc), high-performance liquid chromatography (hplc), and hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance (1h-nmr). the in vitro antiplasmodial activity was evaluated against plasmodium falciparum (strain fcr-3, chloroquine-resistant). results: ethanolic extracts of ambelania duckey, cecropia metensis, cecropia membranacea, and verbena littoralis showed no activity. however, curarea toxicofera extract exhibited an ic50 of 7.6 ± 3.9 μg/ml and was classified as moderately active. most extracts show hemolytic concentration (ch50) > 1000 μg/ ml). a preliminary phytochemical study was carried out using tube analysis, tlc, hplc, and 1h-nmr. steroids or triterpenes, and phenolic compounds were detected by tlc in all extracts. these findings were confirmed by characteristic aliphatic and aromatic signals in 1h-nmr spectra, corresponding to triterpenes and phenolics, respectively. additionally, alkaloids were extracted from c. toxicofera and detected by aromatic signals in 1h-nmr spectra. conclusion: ethanolic extract of c. toxicofera showed antiplasmodial activity (ic50 of 7.6 ± 3.9 μg/ml); this activity may be due to the bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids. the ethanol extracts of a. duckey, c. membranacea, c. metensis, and v. littoralis did not present antiplasmodial activity.