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Antiparasitic and disease-modifying activity of Nyctanthes arbor-tristis Linn. in malaria: An exploratory clinical study
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Antiparasitic and disease-modifying activity of Nyctanthes arbor-tristis Linn. in malaria: An exploratory clinical study

Chhaya S. Godse, Prakash S. Tathed, Sameer S. Talwalkar, Rama A. Vaidya, Ashok J. Amonkar, Akhil B. Vaidya and Ashok D.B. Vaidya
Journal of ayurveda and integrative medicine, v 7(4)
Oct 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaim.2016.08.003
PMID: 27914754
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaim.2016.08.003View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0,  Open

Abstract

Antimalarial Ayurveda Cytokines Drug resistance Nyctanthes arbor-tristis Plasmodium falciparum Plasmodium vivax Reverse pharmacology TNF-α Traditional medicine
An unceasing threat of drug resistance continuously poses demand for new antimalarial drugs. A scientific assessment of traditionally used antimalarial plants through reverse pharmacology is crucial for a fast track drug discovery. An Ayurvedic plant Nyctanthes arbor-tristis Linn. – (Parijat) is being used in clinical practice and had shown antimalarial activity, with a parasite clearance in 76.6% of 120 patients, in an earlier clinical study. To further explore antimalarial potential of the plant through additional objective markers. An open-labelled observational study was conducted at M.A. Podar Hospital – Ayurveda (MAPH-A) after ethics committee approval. Administration of a paste of 5 fresh leaves, thrice a day for a week was a standard practice for management of malaria at MAPH-A. Clinical activity of N. arbor-tristis was evaluated by monitoring pyrexia, parasitemia and morbidity score (MS) in twenty patients. In addition, immune and biochemical markers and organ functions were monitored for objective markers of response. Student's paired-‘t’ test was applied to assess statistical significance. Ten out of 20 patients showed both fever and parasite clearance, which was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction. Remaining ten patients had persistent but decreasing parasitemia. Four of them needed chloroquine as a fail-safe procedure. Irrespective of the degree of parasitemia all the patients showed decrease in MS. There was also an increase in platelet count and normalization of plasma lactic acid. There was a good clinical tolerability and an improvement in organ function. The inflammatory cytokines showed a reduction; particularly in TNF-α within a day. At the given dosage, N. arbor-tristis showed disease-modifying activity; early clinical recovery with a decline of TNF-α and a gradual parasite clearance. Further studies with a standardised formulation for dose-searching and optimizing the treatment schedule are needed in a larger sample size. The process of trial registration had not begun when the study was conducted in 2000.

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Integrative & Complementary Medicine
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