Ungogo Marzuq A, Ebiloma Godwin U, Ichoron Nahandoo, Igoli John O, de Koning Harry P, Balogun Emmanuel O
Department of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Front Chem. 2020 Dec 23;8:617448. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2020.617448. eCollection 2020.
The West African country Nigeria features highly diverse vegetation and climatic conditions that range from rain forest bordering the Atlantic Ocean in the South to the Desert (Sahara) at the Northern extreme. Based on data from the World Conservation Monitoring Center of the United Nations Environmental Protection, Nigeria, with ~5,000 documented vascular plants, ranks amongst the top 50 countries in terms of biodiversity. Such a rich biodiversity implies that the country is rich in diverse secondary metabolites-natural products/unique chemicals produced by the plant kingdom to confer selective advantages to them. Like many tropical countries, Nigeria is also endemic to numerous infectious diseases particularly those caused by parasitic pathogens. These phytochemicals have been exploited for the treatment of diseases and as a result, a new branch of chemistry, natural product chemistry, has evolved, to try to reproduce and improve the therapeutic qualities of particular phytochemicals. In this review, we have compiled a compendium of natural products, isolated from Nigerian flora, that have been reported to be effective against certain protozoan parasites with the aim that it will stimulate interests for further investigations, and give impetus to the development of the natural products into registered drugs. In total 93 structurally characterized natural compounds have been identified with various levels of anti-parasite activity mainly from Nigerian plants. The synthesis protocol and molecular target for some of these natural anti-parasite agents have been established. For instance, the anti-plasmodial compound fagaronine (), a benzophenanthridine alkaloid from Fagara zanthoxyloides has been successfully synthesized in the laboratory, and the anti-trypanosomal compound azaanthraquinone () elicits its effect by inhibiting mitochondrial electron transfer in trypanosomes. This review also discusses the barriers to developing approved drugs from phytochemicals, and the steps that should be taken in order to accelerate the development of new antiparasitics from the highlighted compounds.
西非国家尼日利亚拥有高度多样的植被和气候条件，从南部濒临大西洋的雨林到最北部的沙漠（撒哈拉沙漠）。根据联合国环境保护组织世界保护监测中心的数据，尼日利亚有记录的维管植物约5000种，在生物多样性方面跻身世界前50名国家之列。如此丰富的生物多样性意味着该国富含多种次生代谢产物——植物王国产生的天然产物/独特化学物质，这些物质赋予植物选择性优势。与许多热带国家一样，尼日利亚也流行多种传染病，尤其是由寄生性病原体引起的疾病。这些植物化学物质已被用于治疗疾病，因此，一门新的化学分支——天然产物化学应运而生，旨在重现并提高特定植物化学物质的治疗效果。在这篇综述中，我们汇编了一份从尼日利亚植物群中分离出的天然产物简编，这些天然产物据报道对某些原生动物寄生虫有效，目的是激发进一步研究的兴趣，并推动将这些天然产物开发成注册药物。总共已鉴定出93种结构特征明确的天然化合物，它们主要来自尼日利亚植物，具有不同程度的抗寄生虫活性。其中一些天然抗寄生虫剂的合成方案和分子靶点已经确定。例如，抗疟化合物法加罗宁（），一种从花椒属植物中提取的苯并菲啶生物碱，已在实验室成功合成，抗锥虫化合物氮杂蒽醌（）通过抑制锥虫线粒体电子传递发挥作用。本综述还讨论了从植物化学物质开发获批药物的障碍，以及为加速从突出的化合物开发新型抗寄生虫药物应采取的步骤。
