Table 4.
Top 17 herbal plants used locally in Uganda for malaria treatment with highest antimalarial/antiplasmodial activities (arranged alphabetically).
| Plant family | Plant species | Plant part | Extracting solvent | Report on antiplasmodial, IC50 (μg/ml)/antimalarial activity (Plasmodium strain) | Active chemical constituents | Toxicity/safety information | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asteraceae | Artemisia afra Jacq. Ex Willd | Leaves | Methanol | 3.9 (chloroquine resistant, W2) | Acacetin, genkwanin, 7-methoxyacacetin | Cytotoxicity was observed in Vero cells | [54, 103] |
| Artemisia annua L. | Leaves | Water | 0.9 (chloroquine resistant, W2); 1.1 (chloroquine sensitive, D10) | Sesquiterpenes and sesquiterpene lactones including artemisinin | Generally safe and effective; nausea may occur on drinking herbal extract; artemisinin, an active compound in the extract is safe for pregnant women at least during second and third trimesters | [19, 57, 104] | |
| Aspilia africana (Pers.) C. D. Adams | Leaves | Ethanol | Significant chemo suppressive effect of 92.23% (400 mg/kg) on P. berghei | Saponins, terpenoids, alkaloids, resins, tannins, flavonoids, sterols | No signs of toxicity in mice even at a dose as high as 5000 mg/kg | [19, 58] | |
| Jatropha curcas L. | Leaves | Ethyl acetate | 2.4 (chloroquine resistant, K1) | Alkaloids, saponnins, glycosides, tannins | Moderate toxicity on thrombocyte line and a protective effect on cardiovascular system; no signs of toxicity in mice following oral administration of 5000 mg/kg body weight (bw) dose | [73, 105] | |
| Microglossa pyrifolia (Lam.)O. Ktze | Leaves | Dichloromethane | 1.5 (chloroquine sensitive, 3D7; 2.4 chloroquin resistant, W2) | E-phytol; 6e-geranylgeraniol-19-oic acid | Relatively high cytotoxicity against cells from the human foetal lung fibroblast cell line | [2, 28, 55] | |
| Schkuhria pinnata (lam.) | Whole plant | Methanol | 1.3 (chloroquine sensitive, D6) | Schkuhrin I and schkuhrin II | Methanol extract: low cytotoxicity against human cells; aqueous extracts: no observed toxicity observed in mice | [32, 54] | |
| Tithonia diversifolia A. Gray | Leaves | Methanol | 1.2 (chloroquine sensitive, 3D7); 1.5 (chloroquine resistant, W2) | Tagitinin C, sesquiterpene lactones | Aerial parts are cytotoxic against cells from the human foetal lung fibroblast cell line | [55] | |
| Vernonia amygdalina delile | Leaves | Methanol/dichloromethane | 2.7 (chloroquine resistant, K1) | Coumarin, sesquiterpene lactones including vernolepin, vernolin, vernolide, vernodalin and hydroxyvernodalin, steroid glucosides | Petroleum ether extract shows strong cytotoxicity | [19, 26, 32] | |
| Caricaceae | Carica papaya L. | Leaves | Ethyl acetate | 2.96 (chloroquine sensitive, D10); 3.98 (chloroquine resistant, DD2) | Alkaloids, saponins, tannins, glycosides | No serious toxicity reported, carpaine, an active compound against P. falciparum had high selectivity and was nontoxic to normal RBCs | [65, 106] |
| Celastraceae | Maytenus senegalensis | Roots | 1.9 (chloroquine sensitive, D6); 2.4 (chloroquine resistant, W2) | Terpenoids, pentacyclic triterpenes, e.g., pristimerin | No toxicity observed in ethanol extract | [66, 107] | |
| Cucurbitaceae | Momordica foetida Schumach. | Shoot | Water | 0.35 (chloroquine resistant, FCR3); 6.16 (chloroquine sensitive, NF54) | Saponins, alkaloid, phenolic glycosides including 5,7,4′-Trihydroxyflavanone and kaempferol | No pronounced toxicity against human hepatocellular (HepG2) and human urinary bladder carcinoma (ECV-304, derivative of T-24) cells | [26, 28, 108] |
| Euphorbiaceae | Alchornea cordifolia (Schumach.) Mull. Arg. | Leaves | Water | 4.8 (chloroquine resistant, K1) | Phenolics including ellagic acid | No mortality in mice in acute toxicity test | [70, 109] |
| Fluegea virosa (Roxb. ExWillb.)Voigt | Leaves | Water/methanol | 2 (chloroquine resistant, W2) | Bergenin | Nontoxic, extracts exposed to murine macrophages did not slow or inhibit growth of cells | [72, 110] | |
| Phyllanthus (pseudo) niruri Mull. Arg. | Water | Ranged from 2.9 to 4.1 (both chloroquine sensitive, 3D7 and resistant, Dd2) | Coumarins including 1-O-galloyl-6-O-luteoyl-a-D-glucose | No toxicity was observed; thus, LD50 of the aqueous extract is >5000 mg/kg. b.w. | [74, 111] | ||
| Lamiaceae | Clerodendrum rotundifolium Oliv. | Leaves | Methanol | 0.02 (chloroquine sensitive, CQS); 1.56 (chloroquine resistant, CQR) | Iridoid glycosides such as serratoside A, serratoside B and monomelittoside, diterpenoids including uncinatone, clerodin, and sugiol | Not explored | [28, 33] |
| Mimosaceae | Albizia zygia (DC.) Macbr. | Stem bark | Methanol | 1.0 (chloroquine resistant, K1) | Flavonoids, mainly 3′,4′,7-trihydroxyflavone | The aqueous extract is relatively safe on subacute exposure | [87, 112] |
| Rubiaceae | Pentas longiflora Oliv. | Root | Methanol | 0.99 (chloroquine sensitive, D6); 0.93 (chloroquine resistant, W2) | Pyranonaphthoquinones, pentalongin (1) and psychorubrin (2), naphthalene derivative mollugin (3) | Low cytotoxicity | [97] |
| Rutaceae | Citrus reticulata | Seeds (isolimonexic acid methyl ether) | <4.76 (both chloroquine sensitive, D6 and resistant, W2) | Limonin, isolimonexic acid methyl ether, ichangin, deacetylnomilin, obacunone | Dermal 50% lethal dose (LD50) of undiluted leaf oil is >2 g/kg in rabbits; seed extract causes respiratory distress and strong spleen contraction | [34, 113] |