In vitro antimalarial activity of fractions and constituents isolated from Tabebuia billbergii

introduction: in vitro antimalarial activity of naphthoquinones (1-5), isolated from tabebuia billbergii (bureau & k. schum.) standl., was investigated. tabebuia billbergii, commonly known as guayacán, is a plant traditionally used in the amazon in numerous conditions like bacterial and fungal infections, fever, syphilis, malaria, trypanosomiasis, as well as stomach and bladder disorders, and tumours. objective: to study the dichloromethane extracts of both the trunk and the inner bark of tabebuia billbergii and to demonstrate the antimalarial activity of some of its bioactive components. methods: some bioactive components were evaluated for the antimalarial activity against plasmodium berghei, by using the inhibition of the differentiation cycle of the parasite measure by the 3h-hypoxanthine incorporation and compared to that obtained for chloroquine. results: conventional chromatographic techniques and bioassay-guided fractionation (artemia salina) allowed isolating from the active fractions one naphthoquinone (lapachol) and four naphtho-furan-4,9-diones. these compounds proved to have an important antiplasmodial effect, with very encouraging ic50's, especially when compared to the results shown by chloroquine in the same experiment. in addition, two triterpenes, β-sitosterol and stigmasterol, were obtained from the bark. conclusions: the activity-guided fractionation (a. salina) of dichloromethane extracts of the trunk and the inner bark of tabebuia billbergii led to the isolation and the identification of five quinonoid compounds with antiplasmodial effect. the significant inhibitory activity in vitro against plasmodium berghei observed for compound 2-acetyl-naphtho-[2,3b]-furan-4,9-dione allow us to present them as a potential antimalarial compound.