Antimalarial activities
In various ancient literatures related to healthcare Clerodendrum have been reported for its antimalarial activities because of the presence of a bitter principle. Studies with different parasites support these ancient claims. The alcoholic extract of C. phlomidis showed antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum with an IC50 value of 48 µg/ml (Simonsen et al. 2001). Another Indian species, C. inerme also inhibited the growth of larvae of Ades aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus and Culex pipiens at 80 and 100 ppm concentration of petroleum ether and ether extracts (Gayar and Shazll 1968; Kalyanasundaram and Das 1985). C. myricoides a species from Southern Africa was also tested positive for its antimalarial activity against both sensitive and resistant strains of P. falciparum with IC50< 30 µg/ml (Muregi et al. 2004), it also showed 31.7% suppression in parasitaemia against cloroquine tolerant strain of Plasmodium berghei NK65 (Muregi et al. 2007). These plants may be useful as a source for novel anti-plasmodial drugs/compounds from natural origin.