Despite decades of intense research, malaria remains a deadly disease worldwide and new antimalarials are urgently needed due to increasing drug resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to existing drugs. This article reports the evaluation of four Indian Diospyros species viz., Diospyros melanoxylon, D. peregrina, D. sylvatica, D. tomentosa for antiplasmodial activities against chloroquine-sensitive (3D7) and chloroquine-resistant (K1) strains of P. falciparum. Six of eight methanolic extracts were found to have significant activity, (IC(50) = 16.5-92.9 microg ml(-1)), against strain 3D7 and five of these showed similar activities against strain K1 (IC(50) = 20.5-121.6 microg ml(-1)). Diospyros sylvatica was found to be the most active species (IC(50) = 16.5-29.4 microg ml(-1)) and is worthy of further investigation.
Keywords: Diospyros melanoxylon; Diospyros peregrina; Diospyros sylvatica; Diospyros tomentosa; Ebenaceae; Malaria; Plasmodium falciparum.