Potential Antimalarial Activity from Alcoholic Extracts of Wild Salvia palaestina Leaves
Date
2013-10-25
Authors
Jaber, S.
Abu-Lafi, S.
Asharif, A.
Qutob, M.
Aburemeleh, Q.
Akkawi, M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Maxwell Scientific Organization
Abstract
Malaria threatens the lives of more than one third of the world’s population; it is a major cause of human
deaths. As a result of the emergence of resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum to common antimalarial drugs,
the search for new antimalarial drugs is urgently needed. Hemozoin synthesis is an indispensable process for the
parasite survival and is the target of action for several known antimalarial drugs. Sage, Salvia palaestina, is an
aromatic Mediterranean plant. Its leaves have been used over centuries in Palestinian traditional medicine and are
now being investigated for potential antimalarial activity. This study reveals the antimalarial activity of crude and
HPLC separated fractions tested using two methods; the inhibition of ferriprotoporphyrin IX (FP) biomineralization:
semi-quantitative micro-assay used by Deharo and a previously self-developed quantitative in vitro
method. Reversed phase preparative liquid chromatography coupled to Photo Diode Array (PDA) detector was used
to isolate and enrich eight fractions. Three fractions showed promising antimalarial activity. The crude alcoholic
extract of sage leaves seems to have the potential of an antimalarial drug; it prevents β-hematin formation with an
efficiency of about 72% when compared to the standard Chloroquine which gave 93% at comparable concentrations
of chloroquine and extract.
Description
Keywords
Antimalarial drugs , β-Hematin , chloroquine , ferriprotoporphyrin (IX) , hemozoin , Salvia palaestina