BIOASSAY-GUIDED ISOLATION AND GC-MS ANALYSIS OF ANTIPLASMODIAL PRINCIPLE(S) OF METHANOL EXTRACT OF PIPER GUINEENSE LEAF
Tharcitus Chilaka Onwudiwe*, Chidimma Nwamaka Nzerem,
Godwin Christian Akuodor and Richard Ikechukwu Eze
ABSTRACT
Malaria caused by Plasmodium species is a global health concern particularly in the Sub-Saharan Africa where 90% of cases occur. Recently, fight against malaria has been greatly challenged due to emergent resistant strains of Plasmodium parasites and toxicities associated with currently available anti-malarial drugs in humans. Based on the preponderance of evidence available, plants have been documented as promising source of new therapies against many diseases including malaria. Piper guineense is claimed to be among the plants used in tradomedicine for treatment of malaria. Previous studies have reported the antiplasmodial activity of Piper guineense leaf. This study was designed to isolate and structurally elucidate by GC-MS
analysis, the antiplasmodial principle(s) of methanol extract of Piper guineense leaf. This was done through the process of bioassay-guided fractionation in addition to antiplasmodial activity screening using suppressive and curative tests, and then analyzing the isolated principle using GC-MS technique. Results show that Piper guineense leaf extracts produced significant (p<0.05) reduction of parasitemia level both in the early and established infections. GC-MS analysis identified a sterol, sitosterol (chemical formula: C29H50O; molecular mass: 414.386; retention time: 27.659 minutes) as the bioactive principle. The findings of this study therefore, further confirm the tradomedicinal claim on Piper guineense as a remedy for malaria, and also indicate that sitosterol is responsible for antiplasmodial activity of the plant. Further studies may be needed to confirm these findings.
Keywords: Piper guineense; Antiplasmodial; Bioassay-guided fractionation; GC-MS.
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