Thread by @fab_ethnopharm

Our new article has just been published in @FrontPharmacol!

Pharmacological assessment of the antiprotozoal activity, cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of medicinal plants used in the treatment of #malaria in #Uganda

#ethnopharmacology #INPST #DHPSP

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frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

@FrontPharmacol The new paper in collaboration with @UAntwerpen, @Makerere and @UWMedicine investigated the potential antimalarial & toxicological effects of 16 medicinal plants frequently used by traditional healers to treat malaria, fever, and related disorders at our study site in Uganda. 2/N

In addition, the traditional healers indicated that one plant is used as a ritual plant to boost fertility & prepare young women for motherhood in some communities where a high incidence of rapidly growing large breast masses in young female patients was observed. @TUBerlin 3/N

We present results from various in vitro experiments performed with 56 different plant extracts, namely, 1) a heme biocrystallization inhibition library screen; 2) follow-up investigations of antiprotozoal effects of extracts against chloroquine-resistant P. falciparum K1;
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3) a cytotoxicity counterscreen against human MRC-5SV2 lung fibroblasts; 4) a genotoxicity evaluation of the extract library without and with metabolic bioactivation with human S9 liver fraction; and 5) an assessment of the mutagenicity of the ritual plant P. hadiensis.#INPST 5/N

Among the most active extracts was an ethyl acetate extract of L. calostachys leaves that exhibited antiplasmodial activity against chloroquine-resistant P. falciparum (IC50 value: 5.7 µg/ml), which was further characterized with a SI of 2.6 (CC50 value: 14.7 µg/ml). #INPST 6/N

The experiments for assessment of potential procarcinogenic properties of plant extracts (in vitro mutagenicity and genotoxicity) indicated that few extracts cause mutations. Our study provides early stage support for the therapeutic use of the medicinal plants from Uganda. 7/N