ANALYSIS OF PLANT INGREDIENTS IN REMEDIAL FORMULATIONS OF MALARIA IN MALAY MEDICAL MANUSCRIPTS

Abstract

Introduction: Malaria is an infectious disease caused by Plasmodium spp. The main treatment is artemisinin which was discovered after a massive study on Chinese medical manuscripts. However, artemisinin monotherapy is now challenged by antimalarial drug resistance and there are issues of relapse and failure when using artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACTs). Interestingly, traditional Malay medicine also provides numerous remedies to treat malaria, of which can be obtained from Malay medical manuscripts (MMM). Hence, this study aims to extract and analyse the formulations in MMM. Methods: Several terms referring to malaria were scanned throughout 10 MMM. The formulations were then extracted, and the ingredients were identified and compared to contemporary studies. Results: A total of 17 formulations were identified, comprising of 37 ingredients. Twenty-five of them were plant-based ingredients and were further analysed. The analysis revealed that 10 of the ingredients have been empirically demonstrated to possess pharmacological actions against malaria such as Alpinia galanga, Syzygium aromaticum and Myristica fragrans. Those plants had been shown to eliminate Plasmodium spp. in in vitro or in vivo experiments. Thirteen of the ingredients had been shown to have pharmacological actions that help relieve symptoms of malaria such as Tabernaemontana corymbosa that has anti-pyretic effect while the other two ingredients have not been reported in pharmacological studies. Conclusion: In short, the formulations mentioned in MMM have potential to be developed into accessible and affordable alternative malaria treatments due to its inhibitory and anti-plasmodial activity against Plasmodium spp.