Antiplasmodial compounds from Millettia dura.

Abstract

Malaria still poses a big challenge to the health care of many tropical countries. The
plasmodium resistance to the conventional drugs is the major hitch in its treatment. Higher
plants have produced single line antimalarials and given important lead molecules. On this
basis, flavonoids isolated from millettia dura by chromatographic techniques were screened
againest W2 and D6 strains of plasmoduim falcipalum. Both, the crude and pure compounds
tested showed mild activities against the test organisms. The crude extract of the stem bark
had the highest respective activity of 63.7±8.6 and 46.1±4.5 ?g/ml against W2 and D6.
Of the pure compounds, milletosin was active towards both W2 and D6 with a respective
IC50s of 87.9±8.9 and 66.70±30.3 ?g/ml. Synergistic effect might have contributed to
the relative high activity of the crude than the pure compounds. Basing on the structure
activity relationship of the tested compounds, suitable structural modification could be ideal
to enhance the antiplasmodial activity.