Antimalarial activity screening of some alkaloids and the plant extracts from Amaryllidaceae.

Four groups of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids, namely lycorine-, crinine-, tazettine-, and galanthamine-type, as well as plant extracts of the Amaryllidaceae plants (Pancratium maritimum, Leucojum aestivum, and Narcissus tazetta ssp. tazetta) growing in Turkey were evaluated in vitro for their ability to inhibit Plasmodium falciparum growth by a high-throughput screening method with a 96-well microtiter plate. All four groups of alkaloids exhibited antimalarial activity at different potencies. 6-Hydroxyhaemanthamine, haemanthamine and lycorine were found to be the most potent alkaloids against P. falciparum (T9.96) and galanthamine and tazettine had the least potent activity against P. falciparum (K1). Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.