ANTIMALARIAL ACTIVITY AND CYTOTOXICITY STUDY OF ETHANOL EXTRACT AND FRACTION FROM ALECTRYON SERRATUS LEAVES

Objective: The resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to standard antimalarial drugs has led the scientist to investigate medicinal plants as new potentials in the treatment or prevention of malaria. Previous study showed that the ethanol extract from Alectryon serratus leaves inhibited P. falciparum in vitro. The purpose of this study was to determine the in vitro and in vivo antimalarial activity and toxicity of ethanol extract and fractions of A. serratus leaves.Methods: Ethanol extract of A. serratus leaves was partitioned with dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and n-butanol successively. Antimalarial activities were determined in vitro against P. falciparum 3D7 based on HRP2 measurement in a simple enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and in vivo against Plasmodium berghei ANKA based on the 4-days suppressive test by Peters. The toxicity study was determined by MTT assay using Huh7it cells.Results: Ethanol extract and fractions of A. serratus exhibited antimalarial activity and was proved to be nontoxic. Ethyl acetate (EA) and butanol (BuOH) fractions performed a higher antimalarial activity (IC50<10 µg/ml) and lower toxicity (SI>10) compared with ethanol extract and dichloromethane (DCM) fraction. EA fraction had IC50value of 9.45 µg/ml and SI of 10.58, while BuOH fraction had IC50value of 7.69 µg/ml and SI of 130.04. In vivo antimalarial activity was conducted for ethanol extract and EA fraction. The result showed that EA fraction and ethanol extract had ED50 5.92 mg/kg BW and 13.82 mg/kg BW, respectively.Conclusion: Ethanol extract and EA fraction of A. serratus leaves showed in vivo and in vitro antimalarial activities and proved to be nontoxic. Both of them are a good candidate of new source in the development of new antimalarial drugs.Â