Pure Isolates and Preparative HPLC Fractions or Crude Extract of Inula viscosa: Effect on β-hematin Inhibition in vitro

Malaria is still one of the largest medical threats to humans worldwide. Despite the global efforts to control it, many areas around the world remain malaria endemic, mainly confined to poor tropics and subtropics with huge global economic burdens [1]. In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated about half of the world population is at risk of this disease, malaria deaths are so frequent that statistically speaking every two minutes a child dies from it [2]. Malaria parasites (Plasmodium) are introduced into human hosts by feeding female anopheles mosquitoes. There are five species that infect humans worldwide of these, Plasmodium falciparum is the deadliest [3]. During the asexual part of the parasite life cycle (intra-erythrocytic stage), the Plasmodium feeds on the hemoglobin of the hosts RBC’s [4]. This stage is responsible for the clinical symptoms of the disease and the end product of this consumption is the liberation of highly activated Ferriprotoporphyrin (IX) that can kill the parasites through cellular oxidative stress [5-6]. Unfortunately, the parasite has a solution to this problem by dimerizing this ferric heme into an insoluble more stable form called hemozoin or malaria pigment [7-9]. Purified hemozoin was found to be identical to the synthetic analogue, β-hematin, an insoluble form of ferric protoporphyrin IX (FP) [10], produced in the presence of acetic acid [11,12] which can be used as tool to test new potential antimalarials [13,14]. Due to indiscriminate use of drugs, an alarming increase in drug resistance emerges [15], which has become a global concern. Consequently, researchers are increasingly turning their attention to folk medicine and exploring natural resources for new bioactive compounds, looking for new leads to develop better drugs [16]. According to the WHO, about 80% of the world’s population relies on traditional medicine [17].