Eight naturally occurring anhydronium bases and the synthetic quaternary compound Nb-methylharmalane were tested against Plasmodium falciparum (strain K1) in vitro. Cryptolepine was found to have similar activity to that of chloroquine but alstonine, 5,6-dihydroflavopereirine, matadine, Nb-methylharmalane, melinonine F, normelinonine F, strychnoxanthine and serpentine were found to have little activity. Cryptolepine, given orally to mice infected with Plasmodium berghei berghei was found to have moderate antimalarial activity; parasitaemia was suppressed by 80% at 50 mg/kg/day.
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Wright et al. (1996) studied this question.