In vitro antimalarial activity assay of Ashitaba Leaf ethanolic extract (Angelica keiskei)

Abstract

Introduction: The incidence of malaria is still very high in number in the world. Difficulty in treating malaria is caused by the resistance of malaria parasites to conventional drugs. An alternative treatment that can be used to treat malaria is to discover new drugs from natural ingredients. Aim: This study aimed to determine the activity of the Ashitaba leaf ethanolic extract as an antimalarial drug to Plasmodium falciparum strain 3D7. Methods: This study tested the activity of Ashitaba extract on the growth of P.falciparum in five concentrations, namely concentration of 0.01 ppm, 0.1 ppm, 1 ppm, 10 ppm, and 100 ppm. Results: The test results showed that the highest inhibitory effect was found on the concentration of 100 ppm with percent inhibition of 79.47 ± 26.91%. The 50% inhibition to parasites showed the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 2.09 ppm, compared to the positive control of which the IC50 of chloroquine was 0.007 ppm. Conclusion: Ashitaba leaf extract can be considered to have very active anti-malarial activity, because it has an IC50 value of less than 5 ppm.