In vivo antimalarial extracts and constituents of Prosopis juliflora (Fabaceae)

Abstract

Prosopis juliflora (Fabaceae) is a small perennial tree used as human food and livestock feed for thousands of years in arid and semi-arid regions worldwide. This study was performed to investigate the in vivo antimalarial activity of alkaloid-enriched extracts and pure alkaloidal constituents of Prosopis juliflora in a murine model. Alkaloid-enriched extracts from leaves (FACB) and pods (BCE) of P. juliflora, as well as FACB pure constituents (as formate salts), were obtained and assayed against Plasmodium berghei NK65 infection in mice via oral administration. FACB and BCE exhibited a remarkable in vivo antimalarial activity with little parasitemia inhibition at the 2 mg/kg dose. Additionally, julifloridine was weakly active, but juliprosopine caused a parasitemia inhibition at the 2 mg/kg dose similar to that observed for chloroquine at 50 mg/kg. This study reports for the first time the in vivo antimalarial activity of julifloridine, juliprosopine and alkaloid-enriched extracts from P. juliflora (Fabaceae).

Keywords

• Prosopis juliflora
• Fabaceae
• Juliprosopine
• Julifloridine
• Plasmodium
• In vivo antimalarial activity