Abstract
Among 42 extracts, prepared from 14 medicinal plants used in Vietnamese traditional medicine to treat malaria, 24 were found to have antiplasmodial activity by inhibiting the growth of the chloroquine-resistant
Plasmodium falciparum strain FCR-3 with EC
50 values less than 10
μg/ml. Each medicinal plant possessed at least one active extract. The methanol extract of
Coscinium fenestratum had the strongest antiplasmodial activity with EC
50 value of 0.5
μg/ml. Activity-guided fractionation led to identification of berberine as the major active constituent.