Effects of morachalcon a compound isolated from Artocarpus champeden Spreng stembark on the morphology of the malaria parasites

Morachalcon A compound of prenylated chalcones was isolated from the stembark of artocarpus champeden and the structure was determined by the basis of spectroscopic analysis. The antimalaria activities of Morachalcon A were determined against the growth of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro. The malaria parasite P. falciparum 3D7 clone was propagated in a 24-well culture plate in the presence of wide range of concentrations of each compound. The growth of the parasite was monitored by making a blood smear fixed with MeOH and stained with Geimsa. The antimalarial activity of compound was expressed as a IC₅₀ value, defined as the concentration of the compound causing 50% inhibition of parasite growth relative to an untreated controll. The results indicate that all compounds exhibited antimalarial activity with IC₅₀ of 0,28μg/ml.The findings indicate that Morachalchon A compounds of the A. champeden exhibited potent antimalarial activities. Therefore, the compounds are potentially developed into novel antimalarial drugs.