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Comparative antimalarial and cytotoxic activities of two <i>Vernonia species: V. amygdalina</i> from the Democratic Republic of Congo and <i>V. cinerea subsp vialis</i> endemic to Madagascar


KN Ngbolua
H Rakotoarimanana
H Rafatro
US Ratsimamanga
V Mudogo
PT Mpiana
DST Tshibangu

Abstract

Vernonia amygdalina Del. is a conventional herbal drug in Congolese traditional medicine and is widely used for the treatment of malaria.The aim of this work is to evaluate its efficacy and safety and the potential antimalarial activity of another species originating from Madagascar. Standard bioassay models based on in vitro and in vivo systems that enable bioactivity screening of traditionally used medicinal plants were
used. In particular, hydro-alcoholic extracts of two Vernonia species growing in two different geographical regions(Congo DR and Madagascar) were evaluated for the inhibitory effects on two malaria parasites strains
and cytotoxicity towards leukaemia P-388 cell lines. Results indicate that, V. amygdalina possess a very good in vitro and in vivo activities and a good therapeutic index than V. cinerea subsp vialis endemic to Madagascar, thus validate scientifically the efficacy and safety of Vernonia amygdalina in the traditional treatment of malaria in Congo DR. Using chemotaxonomic approach, we also detected moderate antiplasmodial activities in V. cinerea subsp vialis a plant species not previously reported as antimalarial in the traditional medicine knowlegde of Madagascar. It would be concluded that despite the long spatial isolation of Madagascar and allopatric speciation, Vernonia ecotype as V. cinerea subsp vialis has preserved the antiplasmodial properties. This approach gives the possibility to select plant species of the same genus from different geographical regions in order to increase the chance of discovering new biologically active plants.

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eISSN: 1997-342X
print ISSN: 1991-8631