Preliminary assessment of medicinal plants used as antimalarials in the southeastern Venezuelan Amazon

• Main Authors: Caraballo Alejandro, Caraballo Brigida, Rodríguez-Acosta Alexis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2004-01-01
• Series: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Subjects: Ethnomedicine; Phytotherapeutic; Medicinal plants; Malaria; Venezuelan amazon
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-86822004000200016

Eighteen species of medicinal plants used in the treatment of malaria in Bolívar State, Venezuela were recorded and they belonged to Compositae, Meliaceae, Anacardiaceae, Bixaceae, Boraginaceae, Caricaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Leguminosae, Myrtaceae, Phytolaccaceae, Plantaginaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Solanaceae and Verbenaceae families. Antimalarial plant activities have been linked to a range of compounds including anthroquinones, berberine, flavonoids, limonoids, naphthquinones, sesquiterpenes, quassinoids, indol and quinoline alkaloids.