Identification of 3,3′-O-dimethylellagic acid and apigenin as the main antiplasmodial constituents of Endodesmia calophylloides Benth and Hymenostegia afzelii (Oliver.) Harms

BACKGROUND: Endodesmia calophylloides and Hymenostegia afzelii belong to the Guttiferae and Caesalpiniaceae plant families with known uses in African ethno-medicine to treat malaria and several other diseases. This study aimed at identifying antiplasmodial natural products from selected crude extracts from H. afzelii and E. calophylloides and to assess their cytotoxicity. METHODS: The extracts from H. afzelii and E. calophylloides were subjected to bioassay-guided fractionation to identify antiplasmodial compounds. The hydroethanol and methanol stem bark crude extracts, fractions and isolated compounds were assessed for antiplasmodial activity against the chloroquine-sensitive 3D7 and multi-drug resistant Dd2 strains of Plasmodium falciparum using the SYBR green I fluorescence-based microdilution assay. Cytotoxicity of active extracts, fractions and compounds was determined on African green monkey normal kidney Vero and murine macrophage Raw 264.7 cell lines using the Resazurin-based viability assay. RESULTS: The hydroethanolic extract of H. afzelii stem bark (Hasb(HE)) and the methanolic extract of E. calophylloides stem bark (Ecsb(M)) exhibited the highest potency against both Pf3D7 (EC(50) values of 3.32 ± 0.15 μg/mL and 7.40 ± 0.19 μg/mL, respectively) and PfDd2 (EC(50) of 3.08 ± 0.21 μg/mL and 7.48 ± 0.07 μg/mL, respectively) strains. Both extracts showed high selectivity toward Plasmodium parasites (SI > 13). The biological activity-guided fractionation led to the identification of five compounds (Compounds 1–5) from Hasb(HE) and one compound (Compound 6) from Ecsb(M). Of these, Compound 1 corresponding to apigenin (EC(50) Pf3D7, of 19.01 ± 0.72 μM and EC(50) PfDd2 of 16.39 ± 0.52 μM), and Compound 6 corresponding to 3,3′-O-dimethylellagic acid (EC(50) Pf3D7 of 4.27 ± 0.05 μM and EC(50) PfDd2 of 1.36 ± 0.47 μM) displayed the highest antiplasmodial activities. Interestingly, both compounds exhibited negligible cytotoxicity against both Vero and Raw 264.7 cell lines with selectivity indices greater than 9. CONCLUSIONS: This study led to the identification of two potent antiplasmodial natural compounds, 3,3′-O-dimethylellagic acid and apigenin that could serve as starting points for further antimalarial drug discovery. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12906-021-03352-9.