This study investigated the in vivo and in vitro antiparasitic effects of the essential oil of Lippia alba and the bloodrelated and histopathological alterations that it causes in Colossoma macropomum. In the in vitro trial, the anthelminthic effects of 160, 320, 640, 1280 and 2560 mg/L of the essential oil were tested against monogenoideans (Anacanthorus spathulatus, Notozothecium janauachensis and Mymarothecium boegeri) of the gills of this fish, which are its natural parasites. The concentrations of 1280 mg/L and 2560 mg/L showed 100% efficacy after 20 min of exposure to the essential oil, while at lower concentrations this efficacy against the gill monogenoideans only occurred after 2-3 h of in vitro exposure. However, in the controls, mortality of all of these monogenoideans only occurred after 9 h. A total of 240 fry were distributed into four treatments (20 fish per repetition) and three repetitions were used in the in vivo trial for baths with 100 and 150 mg/L of the essential oil of L. alba, for 30 min. The efficacy in this trial against Ichthyophthirius multifiliis in fish exposed to 100 and 150 mg/L of the essential oil was 40.7% and 50.3%, respectively. However, for monogenoideans, there was efficacy of 14.0% only in the fish exposed to 100 mg/L of the essential oil used. Moreover, the fish exposed to these concentrations of the essential oil presented increased plasma glucose levels, thus denoting signs of stress. Severe lesions such as hyperplasia, fusion of the lamellar epithelium, capillary dilatation, epithelial detachment, lamellar aneurysm, epithelial rupture with hemorrhage, congestion, edema, necrosis, mucous cell proliferation, chloride cells and lamellar hypertrophy were observed in the gills of the fish exposed to 100 and 150 mg/L of the essential oil of L. alba. Alterations to total protein levels, hemoglobin, hematocrit, red blood cell number, thrombocytes number, white blood cell number, lymphocytes, eosinophils and blood neutrophil number was also observed in these fish. The essential oil of L. alba showed great potential for antiparasitic treatment, given that it had high in vitro efficacy against monogenoideans and in vivo efficacy against the protozoon I. multifiliis. Because of the low concentrations of the essential oil (100 and 150 mg/L) that were tolerated by the fish and thus could be used in the therapeutic baths, the efficacy against monogenoideans was low. This indicates that there is a need for additional strategies for using this essential oil in antiparasitic treatments, since the concentrations that eliminate these ectoparasites are toxic for the hosts. Lastly, this was the first study on the antiparasitic activity of L. alba. Statement of Relevance The manuscript entitled "Antiparasitic activity of the essential oil of Lippia alba on ectoparasites of Colossoma macropomum (tambaqui) and its physiological and histopathological effects", represents original article on use of the essential oil of Lippia alba on ectoparasites of tambaqui, an important finfish of Amazon regio...

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In the present study, a quassinoid, neosergeolide, isolated from the roots and stems of Picrolemma sprucei (Simaroubaceae), the indole alkaloids ellipticine and aspidocarpine, isolated from the bark of Aspidosperma vargasii and A. desmanthum (Apocynaceae), respectively, and 4-nerolidylcatechol, isolated from the roots of Pothomorphe peltata (Piperaceae), all presented significant in vitro inhibition (more active than quinine and chloroquine) of the multi-drug resistant K1 strain of Plasmodium falciparum. Neosergeolide presented activity in the nanomolar range. This is the first report on the antimalarial activity of these known, natural compounds. This is also the first report on the isolation of aspidocarpine from A. desmanthum. These compounds are good candidates for pre-clinical tests as novel lead structures with the aim of finding new antimalarial prototypes and lend support to the traditional use of the plants from which these compounds are derived.Key words: neosergeolide -ellipticine -aspidocarpine -4-nerolidylcatechol -Pothomorphe peltata -Picrolemma spruceiAspidosperma spp.Malaria is the main cause of economic loss and high morbidity in the world today and continues to be endemic to tropical regions such as the Amazon. In the Brazilian Amazon, 1.6 million positive plates (thick smears) in a total of 8 million diagnostic tests for malaria were registered from January 2004 to February 2007 (Ministério da Saúde, Sivep-Malaria 2007). The lack of an effective vaccine and the increasing expansion of strains of Plasmodium falciparum presenting resistance towards commonly used, low-cost antimalarials make control of this disease difficult (Olliaro & Bloland 2001, Wellens & Plowe 2001, Vieira et al. 2001, Gonzales et al. 2003, Alecrim et al. 2006. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO 1978(WHO , 1995 has been promoting research on natural product based drugs for treatment of disease and many plant species have been evaluated for antimalarial activity (Weniger et al. 2004). In these studies, emphasis has been on the discovery of lead compounds for drug development (Gundidza & Chinyanganya 1999). The rational search for active substances in medicinal plants is a very promising and cost-effective strategy for antimalarial drug discovery. This approach benefits from the accumulated knowledge of the curing capacity of plants possessed by inhabitants of malaria endemic regions and permits the extensive evaluation of natural products derived from these sources (Campbell et al. 1997, 1998, Brandão et al. 1992, 1997, Krettli et al. 2001, Andrade-Neto et al. 2004a.This triage of useful and effective plants is at the heart of traditional medicinal knowledge and is an extremely important source of therapeutic compounds in use today. Important semi-synthetic, low-cost, highly effective antimalarial drugs such as the quinolines (chloroquine, mefloquine, primaquine, etc.) and artemisinin derivatives (sodium artesunate, arteether, artemether, etc.) owe their initial discovery to the isolation and structural identi...

This study evaluated the use of therapeutic baths containing essential oils of Lippia sidoides (pepper rosemary) and Mentha piperita (peppermint) on the hematological parameters of Nile tilapia parasitized by the monogeneans Cichlidogyrus tilapiae, Cichlidogyrus thurstonae, Cichlidogyrus halli, and Scutogyrus longicornis. A total of 320 juvenile fish were distributed into 16 tanks of capacity 100 L (20 fish per tank), divided into 4 treatments in quadruplicates: fish exposed to a bath of L. sidoides at 20 mg L −1 ; fish exposed to M. piperita at 40 mg L −1 ; fish exposed only to a water bath; and fish exposed to water + DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) bath. The fish were subjected to 3 baths for 10 min, at intervals of 24 h between treatments. After the third bath, parasitological and hematological analyses were performed. The parasite prevalence in fish treated with essential oils was seen to have decreased by 70%. The efficacy attained among fish treated with L. sidoides, in comparison with control water and water + DMSO, was 1.96% and 14.16%, respectively; and among fish treated with M. piperita, it was 33.33% and 41.63%, respectively. The total numbers of red blood cells (RBC) and thrombocytes were lower in fish treated with L. sidoides. Glucose concentration and neutrophil count were significantly higher in fish treated with L. sidoides. Because of the efficacy and positive hematological results, we suggest that baths of M. piperita at 40 mg L −1 should be used as anthelmintic action. Statement of relevance: Authors believe on the use of essential oils to treat ectoparasites of cultured fish and consequently no damages for hematological profile of Nile tilapia were found.