Exploring the antiplasmodal efficacy of erucic acid and its derivative isolated from Thlaspi arvense D. C. (Brassicaceae)

Abstract

Traditional medicinal plants are cardinal sources of new drug molecules for malaria treatment. The present study evaluates the antiplasmodial potential of erucic acid (EA) isolated from ethanolic whole plant extract of Thlaspi arvense (EWETA) and its synthetic methyl ester derivative (EA-OMe) and also confirms the in vivo efficacy of the crude extract. EA and EA-OMe exhibited considerable in vitro activity against chloroquine (CQ)-sensitive (IC50 5.80 μg/ml and 6.25 μg/ml) and CQ-resistant (IC50 6.07 µg/ml and 8.58 µg/ml) strains of P. falciparum, respectively. Both compounds were non-toxic to HeLa cells and normal dermal fibroblasts with high selectivity index. However, EA and EA-OMe exhibited moderate suppressive activity in vivo. Further, EWETA illustrated ED50 <50 mg/kg in the suppressive test and prolonged the survival of treated mice in comparison to infected control. It also showed considerable preventive (500 mg/kg) and curative (100 mg/kg) activity with 91.75% and 91.93% chemo-suppression, respectively. Biochemical analysis also highlights the safety of EWETA to the liver and kidney function of the rodent host. It can be concluded that EA and EA-OMe are contributing to the activity of EWETA besides other components, which are being characterized.