Abstract

Antiplasmodial activity of extracts and characterization of the most active extract from Commiphora wightii: A data deficient medicinal plant

Jaswinder Kaur Saini* and Sanjay Ingle

Abstract

Commiphora wightii is a celebrated plant in ethnohistory of medicine possessing multifarious medicinal potentials, of which much remain still unexplored. This study was undertaken to evaluate the antiplasmodial potential of C. wightii. Extracts from C. wightii stem obtained by sequential fractionation using n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, ethanol and water (AQ) were screened for in vitro antiplasmodial activity against chloroquine (CQ)-sensitive Plasmodium falciparum (3D7) strain at 25 μg/ml final concentration. Of all the extracts tested, C. wightii AQ extract showed highest parasite inhibition (89.33±7.64%) and hence, was selected for further studies. The extract was classified as good to moderate antimalarial agent (IC50 =5.34 µg/ml). This extract did not exhibit any cytotoxicity on HEK-293 cell lines (IC50 >50 µg/ml) or hemolytic activity on human erythrocytes (HC50 >500 µg/ml). Phytochemical analysis revealed the abundance of saponins and amino acids in this extract along with alkaloids, carbohydrates and phenolics. An abundant compound similar to phenylenthanoid glycoside Scroside D, a characteristic constituent of antimalarial plant Stachytarpheta cayennensis was identified from LC-MS-QTOF analysis of this extract which is proposed to confer antiplasmodial activity to C. wightii.

Keywords: Antimalarial, Antiplasmodial, Commiphora wightii, Cytotoxic, Malaria, Plasmodium.