title: In vivoandin vitroantimalarial activity of bergenin.
abstract: Malaria is a potentially life-threatening protozoal parasitic disease transmitted by femaleAnophelesmosquitoes. Drug therapy is currently the most widely used method for the control and treatment of this disease. Several plants were found to contain substances possessing antimalarial properties. In this study, we investigated the antimalarial activity of bergenin, a sesquiterpene lactone compound derived fromRodgersia aesculifoliaBatal. The results indicated that bergenin effectively inhibitedPlasmodium falciparumgrowthin vitro(IC50, 14.1 μg/ml, with ~100% inhibition at 50 μg/ml), without apparent cytotoxicity to erythrocytes or to mammalian HeLa and HepG2 cells. Bergenin exhibited less cytotoxic activity and the selectivity index (SI) was 887 and 1,355 for HeLa and HepG2 cells, respectively. The administration of bergenin toPlasmodium berghei-infected mice for 6 days significantly inhibited the growth of the parasites. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that bergenin may be a promising novel drug for antimalarial treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yinghui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xuewu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yuxiao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhongxiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
keywords: bergenin; malaria; sesquiterpene lactone