IN-VITRO ANTIMALARIAL ACTIVITY, CHLOROQUINE POTENTIATING EFFECT AND CYTOTOXICITY OF ALKALOIDS OF HERNANDIA-VOYRONII JUM (HERNANDIACEAE)

Hernandia voyronii is traditionally used as adjuvant to chloroquine in Madagascar. Neutral and basic alkaloidal extracts of this plant were evaluated for their intrinsic in vitro antimalarial activity, cytotoxi city and chloroquine potentiating action against the chloroquine resis tant Plasmodium falciparum strain FCM29. Bioassay directed fractionati on clearly demonstrated that both the intrinsic antimalarial activity and the chloroquine potentiating action was localized in the polar alk aloidal extract. Moreover, this extract had low cytotoxicity to HeLa c ells and L929 fibroblasts. These results support the traditional use o f H. voyronii as an antimalarial and adjuvant to chloroquine.