In vitro antiplasmodial and antioxidant activities of bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids from Alseodaphne corneri Kosterm

Azeana Zahari; Abdulwali Ablat; Yasodha Sivasothy; Jamaludin Mohamad; Muhammad I Choudhary; Khalijah Awang

doi:10.1016/j.apjtm.2016.03.008

In vitro antiplasmodial and antioxidant activities of bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids from Alseodaphne corneri Kosterm

Asian Pac J Trop Med. 2016 Apr;9(4):328-332. doi: 10.1016/j.apjtm.2016.03.008. Epub 2016 Mar 10.

Authors

Azeana Zahari¹, Abdulwali Ablat², Yasodha Sivasothy¹, Jamaludin Mohamad², Muhammad I Choudhary³, Khalijah Awang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
² Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
³ H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: khalijah@um.edu.my.

PMID: 27086149
DOI: 10.1016/j.apjtm.2016.03.008

Abstract

Objective: To study antiplasmodial and antioxidant activities of the isolation of alkaloids from the active dichloromethane extract of Alseodaphne corneri.

Methods: Phytochemical studies of the crude extract led to the isolation of six alkaloids using recycle high performance liquid chromatography and preparative thin layer chromatography. The antiplasmodial activity of the isolated compounds was evaluated using the histidine-rich protein II assay. The isolated alkaloids were also tested for their antioxidant activity using three different assays; DPPH, ferric reducing ability of plasma and metal chelating assays.

Results: Malaria infection caused the formation of free radicals which subsequently led to oxidative stress and apoptosis. The antioxidant properties of the alkaloids under investigation revealed that in addition to the antiplasmodial activity, the alkaloids could also prevent oxidative stress. (+)-laurotetanine and (+)-norstephasubine exhibited strong antiplasmodial activities with IC50 values of 0.189 and 0.116 μM, respectively.

Conclusions: Interestingly, the two most potent compounds that exhibit antiplasmodial activity also exhibit good antioxidant activities. The crude dichloromethane extract and the isolated compounds exert substantial antiplasmodial and antioxidative activities which in turn suppress oxidative stress and cause less damage to the host.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Antiplasmodial; Bisbenzylisoquinoline; Laurotetanine; Norstephasubine; Oxidative stress.