Plant Extracts as a Source of Natural Products with Potential Antimalarial Effects: An Update from 2018 to 2022

Abstract

Malaria kills more than 500,000 people yearly, mainly affecting Africa and Southeast Asia. The disease is caused by the protozoan parasite from the genus Plasmodium, with Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum being the main species that cause the disease in humans. Although substantial progress has been observed in malaria research in the last years, the threat of the spread of Plasmodium parasites persists. Artemisinin-resistant strains of this parasite have been reported mainly in Southeast Asia, highlighting the urgent need to develop more effective and safe antimalarial drugs. In this context, natural sources, mainly from flora, remain underexplored antimalarial spaces. The present mini-review explores this space focusing on plant extracts and some of their isolated natural products with at least in vitro antiplasmodial effects reported in the literature comprising the last five years (2018–2022).

Keywords

• malaria
• plant extracts
• natural products
• <i>Plasmodium</i>
• ethnobotany
• drug discovery