Anti-Plasmodial Effects of Different Ecotypes of Glycyrrhiza glabra Traditionally Used for Malaria in Iran

• Published in: Revista brasileira de farmacognosia Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 310 - 315
• Main Authors: Rashidzadeh, Hamid, Mosavi, Fereshteh Sadat, Shafiee, Tahereh, Adyani, Seyed Masih, Eghlima, Ghasem, Sanikhani, Mohsen, Kheiry, Azizollah, Amiri, Mahdi, Tavakolizadeh, Mahdi, Ramazani, Ali
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 2023
• Subjects: Medicine; Original; Original Article; Pharmacy; Root extract; Methanolic plant extract; Antimalarial activity; Malaria; Iranian native ecotypes
• ISSN: 0102-695X; 1981-528X; 1981-528X
• DOI: 10.1007/s43450-022-00353-8

Glycyrrhiza glabra
L., Fabaceae, or licorice has shown potential therapeutic effects on fever, gastric ulcers, hepatic disorders, and malaria. This study aimed to assess the antimalarial activity of different fractions of root extract from twelve ecotypes from Iran. In this regard, mice were then randomly divided into 8 groups of 5 mice. Four hours after mice were infected by
Plasmodium berghei
, they received methanolic plant extract by intraperitoneal injection. The treatment was continued for 4 consecutive days (every 24 h), then on the fifth and seventh days, blood samples were taken from the tails of the mice and the parasitic percentages were calculated by microscopy technique. In comparison to control, every analyzed ecotype has a remarkable parasite inhibitory effect, whereas the source of the root also has a drastic difference in its antimalarial effects. The highest percentage of inhibition on days 5 and 7 was subjected to the extract of Semirom ecotype with suppression of 86.37 and 83%, respectively. On the other hand, 13.21 and 9.19% parasite growth inhibition was shown in the extracts of Shahrbabak and Haji Abad, respectively. The significant difference between these 12 ecotypes was shown with Mann–Whitney
U
pairwise comparison to variable parasitemia day 5 and parasitemia day 7 (
p
 < 0.001).
Graphical Abstract