Antiplasmodial activity and cytotoxicity of plants used in traditional medicine of Iran for the treatment of fever

Malaria is the most serious parasitic disease and one of the oldest recorded diseases in the world. Because of the resistance of malaria parasites to current drugs, it is necessary to discover new antiplasmodial drugs. Traditional medicine is one of the important sources of new antiplasmodial drugs. In this study, twenty methanolic extracts from different parts of sixteen medicinal plants used in traditional medicine of Iran for the treatment of "Nobeh fever" and/ or fever were screened for in-vivo antiplasmodial activity against Plasmodium berghei and cytotoxic effect on Madin-Darby bovine kidney cells [MDBK]. Eleven species [55%] were found to have antiplasmodial activity. Methanolic extract from Rosa damascena Mill. reduced parasitemia by 57.7% compared to untreated control mice at intra-peritoneal [i.p.] injection doses of 10 mg/Kg per day for 4 days. This is the first report that mentioned in-vivo antiplasmodial activity of Rosa damascena Mill

Herbal remedies connected to malaria like fever in Iranian ancient medicinal books- brief review article

Malaria is a major international public health problem. Drug-resistant parasites have made treatment and control of malaria more difficult. Therefore, safe, affordable and effective new drugs are urgently needed. Traditional medicine is an important source for new drugs. Determining the ancient medicinal books was the first step of this study for finding malaria or disease that has symptoms like malaria. Then the plants that used to treat "Ghebbe Khalesseh fever" were listed. Finally, recent antimalarial researches were explored. About 31 plants were identified. Information from these resources is valuable for the selection of plants for antiplasmodial screening programs