Actividad inhibidora del crecimiento in vitro de Plasmodium falciparum de extractos de algas del género Laurencia

several terpenoids have been identified in the genus laurencia showing antimalarial activity; however it is a genus of great chemical complexity worldwide. the majority of these substances have been extracted from collections made in philippines and brazil. in order to know the presence of antimalarial activity in organisms of this genus from the north west coast of cuba, we prepared extracts in ethanol with the whole plant of specimens of l obtusa and l. corallopsis and evaluated the inhibition produced by them against growth of plasmodium falciparum, strain f32. the minimum inhibitory concentrations against p. falciparum determined for laurencia extracts were in the range of 44 and 162 μg/ml, and values of median inhibitory concentrations were between 14.82 and 51.3 μg/ml. the results are similar to those obtained for extracts from medicinal plants. the extracts did not improve chloroquine results. l. obtusa extracts gave strong reactions to the assays for terpenoids and for lactonic/coumarine compounds, but we also detected the presence of alkaloids, free reducing sugars, saponins and flavonoids. several molecules could contribute to the observed antiplasmodial activity of the extracts, so research is in progress for the isolation and purification of new active principles.