Antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activity of isolated sesquiterpene lactones from the acetone leaf extract of Vernonia colorata

Vernonia colorata is used throughout Africa to treat various ailments. Its antiplasmodial activity has been widely reported. Using bioassay-guided fractionation, we isolated two antiplasmodial compounds — vernolide (IC50 = 1.87 μg/ml) and vernodalin (IC50 = 0.52 μg/ml) with selective indices of 1.02 and 2.79 for vernolide and vernodalin respectively. These compounds are non-specific towards parasites.