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https://www.arca.fiocruz.br/handle/icict/51117
AMPELOZYZIPHUS AMAZONICUS DUCKE (RHAMNACEAE), A MEDICINAL PLANT USED TO PREVENT MALARIA IN THE AMAZON REGION, HAMPERS THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLASMODIUM BERGHEI SPOROZOITES
Amazon region
Medicinal plants
Antimalarial drugs
Ampelozyziphus amazonicus
Plasmodium berghei
Anopheles stephensi
Author
Affilliation
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Rene Rachou. Laboratorio de Malaria. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil/Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biologicas. Departamento de Parasitologia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Faculdade de Farmacia. Laboratorio de Farmacognosia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical. Centro de Malaria e outras Doenças Tropicais. Lisboa, Portugal
Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical. Centro de Malaria e outras Doenças Tropicais. Lisboa, Portugal
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Rene Rachou. Laboratorio de Malaria. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Faculdade de Farmacia. Laboratorio de Farmacognosia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical. Centro de Malaria e outras Doenças Tropicais. Lisboa, Portugal
Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical. Centro de Malaria e outras Doenças Tropicais. Lisboa, Portugal
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Rene Rachou. Laboratorio de Malaria. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Abstract
Most medicinal plants used against malaria in endemic areas aim to treat the acute symptoms of the disease such as high temperature fevers with periodicity and chills. In some endemic areas of the Brazilian Amazon region one medicinal plant seems to be an exception: Ampelozyziphus amazonicus, locally named "Indian beer" or "Saracura-mira", used to prevent the disease when taken daily as a cold suspension of powdered dried roots. In previous work we found no activity of the plant extracts against malaria blood parasites in experimentally infected animals (mice and chickens) or in cultures of Plasmodium falciparum. However, in infections induced by sporozoites, chickens treated with plant extracts were partially protected against Plasmodium gallinaceum and showed reduced numbers of exoerythrocytic forms in the brain. We now present stronger evidence that the ethanolic extract of "Indian beer" roots hampers in vitro and in vivo development of Plasmodium berghei sporozoites, a rodent malaria parasite. Some mice treated with high doses of the plant extract did not become infected after sporozoite inoculation, whereas others had a delayed prepatent period and lower parasitemia. Our data validates the use of "Indian beer" as a remedy for malaria prophylaxis in the Amazon, where the plant exists and the disease represents an important problem which is difficult to control. Studies aiming to identify the active compounds responsible for the herein described causal prophylactic activity are needed and may lead to a new antimalarial prophylactic. (C) 2008 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc.
Keywords
MalariaAmazon region
Medicinal plants
Antimalarial drugs
Ampelozyziphus amazonicus
Plasmodium berghei
Anopheles stephensi
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