Antiplasmodial activity of the alkaloids of Peschiera fuchsiaefolia

The tertiary and quaternary alkaloids isolated from the stem bark, root bar k and seeds of Peschiera fuchsiaefolia are reported. The tertiary alkaloid crude extract from the stem bark was tested in vitro against Plasmodium fal iparum on the basis of the antimalarial use of the plant. It showed good ac tivity against both the D-6 strain (IC50 = 495 ng/ml) and chloroquine-resis tant W-2 strain (IC50 = 817 ng/ml) and voacamine was the most active of the tested alkaloids (IC50 = 238 ng/ml for D-6 and 290 ng/ml for W-2). The ter tiary alkaloid crude extract from the root bark of the same plant is more a ctive than voacamine (IC50 = 179 ng/ml for D-6 and 282 ng/ml for W-2 strain ), and is particularly rich in dimeric alkaloids (0.22% of the vegetable ma terial).