In Vitro Antimalarial and Toxicological Activities of Quercus infectoria (Olivier) Gall Extracts

Nik Nor Imam Nik Mat Zin; Mira Nabila Mohamad; Keusar Roslan; Sazeli Abdul Wafi; Nurul I'zaaz Abdul Moin; Azamuddin Alias; Yusmazura Zakaria; Nurhidanatasha Abu-Bakar

doi:10.21315/mjms2020.27.4.4

In Vitro Antimalarial and Toxicological Activities of Quercus infectoria (Olivier) Gall Extracts

Malays J Med Sci. 2020 Jul;27(4):36-50. doi: 10.21315/mjms2020.27.4.4. Epub 2020 Aug 19.

Authors

Nik Nor Imam Nik Mat Zin¹, Mira Nabila Mohamad¹, Keusar Roslan¹, Sazeli Abdul Wafi², Nurul I'zaaz Abdul Moin³, Azamuddin Alias³, Yusmazura Zakaria¹, Nurhidanatasha Abu-Bakar¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia.
² Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa'adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam.
³ Department of Biomedical Sciences, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia.

Abstract

Background: The spread of Plasmodium falciparum resistance in common antimalarial drugs, including artemisinin-based combination therapies, has necessitated the discovery of new drugs with novel mechanisms of action. In the present study, the in vitro antimalarial and toxicological activities of acetone, methanol, ethanol and aqueous extracts of Quercus infectoria (Q. infectoria) galls were investigated.

Methods: The extracts were assessed for the antimalarial potential using a malarial SYBR Green I fluorescence-based (MSF) assay, while the toxicity was screened by using brine shrimp lethality test (BSLT), haemolytic assay, and cytotoxicity assay against normal embryo fibroblast cell line (NIH/3T3) and normal kidney epithelial cell line (Vero).

Results: The acetone extract showed the highest antimalarial activity (50% inhibitory concentration, IC₅₀ = 5.85 ± 1.64 μg/mL), followed by the methanol extract (IC₅₀ = 10.31 ± 1.90 μg/mL). Meanwhile, the ethanol and aqueous extracts displayed low antimalarial activity with IC₅₀ values of 20.00 ± 1.57 and 30.95 μg/mL ± 1.27 μg/mL, respectively. The significant antimalarial activity was demonstrated in all extracts and artemisinin (P < 0.05). All extracts were non-toxic to brine shrimps (50% lethality concentration, LC₅₀ > 1000 ppm). Furthermore, no occurrence of haemolysis (< 5%) was observed in normal erythrocytes when treated with all extracts compared to Triton X-100 that caused 100% haemolysis (P < 0.05). The acetone and methanol extracts were non-toxic to the normal cell lines and statistically significant to artemisinin (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Taken together with satisfactory selectivity index (SI) values, the acetone and methanol extracts of Q. infectoria galls could serve as an alternative, promising and safe antimalarial agents.

Keywords: 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay; Quercus infectoria; antimalarial activity; brine shrimp lethality test; haemolytic assay; malarial SYBR Green I fluorescencebased assay; toxicological activity.