Ethnobotanical survey and in vitro antiplasmodial activity of plants used in traditional medicine in Burkina Faso.

In Burkina Faso, most people in particular, in rural areas, use traditional medicine and medicinal plants to treat usual diseases. In the course of new antimalarial compounds, an ethnobotanical survey has been conducted in different regions. Seven plants, often cited by traditional practitioners and not chemically investigated, have been selected for an antiplasmodial screening: Pavetta crassipes (K. Schum), Acanthospermum hispidum (DC), Terminalia macroptera (Guill. et Perr), Cassia siamea (Lam), Ficus sycomorus (L), Fadogia agrestis (Schweinf. Ex Hiern) and Crossopteryx febrifuga (AFZ. Ex G. Don) Benth. Basic, chloroform, methanol, water-methanol and aqueous crude extracts have been prepared and tested on Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine-resistant W2 strain. A significant activity has been observed with alkaloid extract of P. crassipes (IC(50)<4 microg/ml), of A. hispidum, C. febrifuga, and F. agrestis (4