The Potential of Plants of Family Fabaceaewith Emphasis on Putri Malu Medicinal Plant ‘Mimosa Pudica’ (Fabaceae) as an Antimalarial & an Insecticide for Malaria Vectors: A Review

Background: Due to the prevalence of malaria worldwide and cases of resistance to malaria drugs, finding new drug candidates is important in malaria control. Due to its traditional use and phytochemical content, this review was conducted on the medicinal plant Mimosa pudica and its family, Fabaceae. Method: This review collected original articles in online databases using several keywords combined with boolean operators. The articles about the antimalarial and insecticidal effects of Mimosa pudica and other Fabaceae species were included in the study. Results: Forty-two articles described 45 species from the Fabaceaefamily exhibiting antimalarial and/ or insecticidal potential including Mimosa pudica. The studies showed that crude extract of M. pudica showed activity against P. falciparum or P. berghei and insecticidal activity against Anopheles subpictus and Anopheles stephensi. More advanced studies were carried out on other Fabaceae species, evaluating their activity with crude extracts and fractions, isolated compounds, and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Conclusions: The most promising antiplasmodial activity of M. pudica was shown by aqueous, methanol, and water/ methanol extracts from the aerial part against P. falciparum FCR-3 strain. In addition, aqueous or ethanolic extracts from the leaves of M. pudica revealed their potential against A. subpictus and A. stephensi.