Antimalarial Activity of an Alkaloid Mixture Isolated from the Tender Leaves of the Nectandra membranacea (Laureaceae)

Abstract

Despite the breadth of knowledge about malaria, its transmission, preventive measures and available treatments and its difficulty in controlling the vector and the rapid spread of resistance to current drugs, there is a stimulus to develop new research looking for active molecules. The phytochemical studies of the active extract confirmed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, coumarins, tannins, reducing compounds, anthocyanins, terpenes, triterpenes and steroids. In the present work, it was possible to isolate a mixture of isoquinolinic alkaloids from the tender leaves of Nectandra membranacea (Laureaceae) with antimalarial activity. The mixture composed of (-)-gliazovine and (+)-aplogliazovine showed an IC 50 value of 32.18 μg/mL against the P. berghei NK65 strain. It is important to continue with these studies and their chemical components isolated from N. membranacea that could be used as an alternative the treatment of malaria.