COVER LETTER
MS: 1808886912837012
Anti-protozoal activity of aporphine and protoberberine alkaloids from Annickia kummeriae (Engl. & Diels) Setten & Maas (Annonaceae)
Hamisi M Malebo, Tanja Wenzler, Monica Cal, Sauda M Swaleh, Maurice O Omolo, Ahmed Hassanali, Urs Séquin, Daniel Häussinger, Petur
Dalsgaard, Matthias Hamburger, Reto Brun and Isaiah Ndiege
Reviewer: Duygu Kaya
1. The first author was addressed in
5 places.
Reviewer: didem sohretoglu
Did first author work in all 6 departments indeed???
Our response
The author did the work reported in this manuscript as part of his PhD
in Medicinal Phytochemistry which was in a sandwich program
involving Tanzania, Kenya and Switzerland. I spend six months at
each institution in Switzerland (total 18 months).
Plant collection was done in Tanzania as well as the initial
phytochemistry was done at the Department of Traditional Medicine
at NIMR in Tanzania. Further Phytochemistry was carried out at
Chemistry Department, Kenyatta University in Kenya.
2. In Address 1 “National” (l is
written two times)
3. In corresponding author’s e-mail
address: first letter should be
lowercase.
4. Page 2, in Results (SI) 250) (last
bracket is additional)
5. Page 3, last line: “...demonstrated
to inhibit the growth of...”
6. Page 4, in Materials and Methods:
General procedures Line 10
“tubing” is
written two times.
7. Page 4, in Materials and Methods:
General procedures Line 22 (i.d.)
8. Page 4, in Materials and Methods:
General procedures The author
didn’t
mention about the cytotoxic activity
of the extracts/compounds before
Antiplasmodial assays were carried out at the Swiss Tropical and
Public Health Institute, Switzerland. Isolation, purification (use of
MPLC and HPLC) and spectroscopy of compounds were carried out
at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Basel,
Switzerland. Finally, used HSCCC, SEPACORE and LC/MS for
isolation and purification of Compounds at the Institute of
Pharmaceutical Biology, University of Basel in Switzerland.
Repeated l deleted
The first letter converted to lower case
Additional bracket deleted
Revised to read, “..inhibited the growth of..”
Repeated word “tubing” has been deleted
Long form added: “…internal diameter (i.d)..”
Meaning of abbreviation HSCCC should be explain
Cytotoxicity added in the abstract. Selectivity is derived from
cytotoxicity activity. Selectivity index (SI) is mentioned in the
abstract. Formula for SI is added in the materials and methods.
Long form of HSCCC and its role have been provided in the general
procedures
(for
instance in the abstract)
9. Page 5, in Plant materials and
chemicals:
There
isn't
any
information about the chemicals that
were used.
10. There is no need to explain the
extraction procedures below the
title:
"Plant
materials
and
chemicals". The author has already
mentioned about it in the "Bioassay
of extracts and guided isolation of
..." title.
11. Page 5, in “In vitro antiplasmodial assays” there is only one
assay so title
should be “In vitro anti-plasmodial
assay”
12. et al. (after et al, the dot is
forgotten in different parts of the
manuscript)
13. page 5, in Bioassay of extracts
and guided isolation of aporphine
and
protoberberine
alkaloids:
Chloroform and ethanol extracts are
not existing. These
solvents are unnecessary to be
written.
14. Page 6, in line 20, “of” is written
two times.
15. Page 7, in Results and
discussion The explanations of
Table 1 and Table 2
are not clear.
16. Table 2 is too complex and
cannot be analyzed obviously.
17. Page 7, in Results and
discussion, line 7 should be "Both
the methanol and
dichloromethane extracts of stem
and root bark..."
In page 4, material and methods, general experiment
procedures, solvent used
for NMR anlysis should be written.
Chemicals have been added. Solvents for NMR have been shown
Reorganized and put bioassays under the title “Bioassay of extracts
and guided isolation of antiplasmodial compounds
Corrected to read “in vitro anti-plasmodial assay”
Dot added to all “et al,” in the manuscript to read “et al.,”
Revised to show the solvents of increasing polarity (petroleum ether,
dichloromethane and methanol) which were used. They show the
sequence (defatting and removal of mid-polar compounds); hence the
methanol extract had the polar and most polar compounds
Deleted repeated word
Revised, Table 1 & 2 removed and referenced to our previous results.
Table 2 has been removed
Rephrased
I think Enantia kummeriae also added as a keyword
The same authors has a manuscript about the title plants
same activity. So, it
should be mentioned in the text and cited:
Antiplasmodial, anti-trypanosomal, anti-leishmanial and
Have been added
Mentioned in the text and cited
cytotoxicity activity of
selected Tanzanian medicinal plants.Tanzania journal of
health research, 226-234, 2009.
In page 8,both Cortes & Davoust, 1990, Cortes et al. 1990
were cited but in the
reference list only Cortes & Davoust, 1990 is present.So, it
should be checked?
In tables, there is no need to write first letters of compounds
names.
In my opnion, NMR data of some compounds should be
given. It is up to author,
which compound or compounds data they will give.
Reference Cortes & Davoust, 1990 have been removed as the
information in Cortes et al., 1990 is sufficient
We maintained this as it makes it easy for the reader to follow up the
explanation
NMR data have been shown and discussed