In Vitro Antiplasmodial Activity and Cytotoxicity of Extracts of Selected Medicinal Plants Used by Traditional Healers of Western Cameroon.pdfVIP

SAGE-Hindawi Access to Research Malaria Research and Treatment Volume 2011, Article ID 561342, 6 pages doi:10.4061/2011/561342 Research Article In Vitro Antiplasmodial Activity and Cytotoxicity of Extracts of Selected Medicinal Plants Used by Traditional Healers of Western Cameroon Denis Zofou,1 Mathieu Tene,2 Moses N. Ngemenya,1 Pierre Tane,2 and Vincent P. K. Titanji1 1 Biotechnology Unit, University of Buea, P.O. Box 63 Buea, South West Region, Cameroon 2 Laboratory of Natural Products Chemistry, University of Dschang, P.O. Box 67 Dschang, West Region, Cameroon Correspondence should be addressed to Vincent P. K. Titanji, vpk.titanji@ Received 22 September 2010; Revised 18 January 2011; Accepted 24 January 2011 Academic Editor: Polrat Wilairatana Copyright © 2011 Denis Zofou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Medicinal plants play a key role in malaria control in Africa, especially in remote areas where health facilities are limited. In order to assess their acclaimed potentials, eleven extracts were prepared from seven selected plants commonly used in Western Cameroon, and tested both for their antiplasmodial activity and cytotoxicity. The antiplasmodial activity was assessed using Lactate Dehydrogenase Assay (pLDH) and the cytotoxicity estimated on LLC-MK2 monkey kidney epithelial cells. Seven extracts from five different plants were significantly active, with very weak or no cytotoxicity. The Dacryodes edulis leaves showed the highest activity (IC50 of 6.45 µg/mL on 3D7 and 8.2 µg/mL on DD2) followed by the leaves of Vernonia amygdalina (IC50 of 8.72 and 11.27 µg/mL on 3D7 and DD2 resp.) and