Evaluation of the in vitro antimalarial activity of Picralima nitida extracts.

Extracts of Picralima nitida seeds, fruit rind, and stem bark have been investigated in vitro for antimalarial activity. The extracts showed remarkable inhibitory activity against drug resistant clones of Plasmodium falciparum at doses of 1.23-32 micrograms/ml. The dichloromethane extract of the fruit rind was the most active of the crude extracts, with IC50 values of 1.61 micrograms/ml for the Indochina (W-2), clone and 2.41 micrograms/ml for the Sierra Leone (D-6), clone. An alkaloid fraction obtained from the methanol extract of the stem bark gave an IC50 value of 2.00 micrograms/ml and 1.23 micrograms/ml in the W-2 and D-6 clones, respectively. The result supports the continued ethnomedical exploration of the plant as a potential antimalarial drug.