Antileishmanial activity and mechanism of action from a purified fraction of Zingiber officinalis Roscoe against Leishmania amazonensis

Abstract

In recent years, considerable attention has been given to identify new antileishmanial products derived from medicinal plants, although, to date, no new effective compound has been recently applied to treat leishmaniasis. In the present study, the antileishmanial activity of a water extract from Zingiber officinalis Roscoe (ginger) was investigated and a purified fraction, named F10, was identified as responsible by this biological activity. The chemical characterization performed for this fraction showed that it is mainly composed by flavonoids and saponins. The water extract and the F10 fraction presented IC50 values of 125.5 and 49.8 μg/mL, respectively. Their selectivity indexes (SI) were calculated and values were seven and 40 times higher, respectively, in relation to the value found for amphotericin B, which was used as a control. Additional studies were performed to evaluate the toxicity of these compounds in human red blood cells, besides of the production of nitrite, as an indicator of nitric oxide (NO), in treated and infected macrophages. The results showed that both F10 fraction and water extract were not toxic to human cells, and they were able to stimulate the nitrite production, with values of 13.6 and 5.4 μM, respectively, suggesting that their biological activity could be due to macrophages activation via NO production. In conclusion, the present study shows that a purified fraction from ginger could be evaluated in future works as a therapeutic alternative, on its own or in association with other drugs, to treat disease caused by L. amazonensis.

Expression profiling of Sudanese visceral leishmaniasis patients pre‐ and post‐treatment with sodium stibogluconate

“…Specifically, we identified the plant‐based flavonoid drug genistein as having potential activity in determining the observed expression profiles in post‐treatment compared to pretreatment samples. This provides some support for the recent resurgence of interest in investigating the leishmanicidal activity of plant‐derived flavonoids. The observation that the quinoline alkaloid camptothecin was a potential upstream regulator was also of interest, especially given the progress of the orally active 8‐aminoquinoline sitamaquine (formerly WR‐6026) through preclinical and phase I/II clinical trials against VL in India, Brazil and Kenya (reviewed Ref.…”

Therapeutic effect of ursolic acid in experimental visceral leishmaniasis

“…An interesting alternative for the discovery of new therapeutic agents for the treatment of leishmaniasis is prospecting natural products from different sources, such as plants, which possess a wide range of secondary metabolites, including triterpenes (Passero et al., 2014, Duarte et al., 2016). …”

Potential health benefits and scientific review of ginger

“…Ginger modulates genetic pathway, acts on tumour suppression of genes and modulates biological Activities (Duke and Ayensu, 1985;Jagetia et al, 2004;Ha et al, 2012;Duarte, 2016).…”

“…Prostaglandin has been shown to have housekeeping and gastro-protective function by maintaining gastric mucosal integrity (Duke and Ayensu, 1985;Qureshi et al, 1989;El-Sharaky et al, 2009;Ajith et al, 2008;Duarte, 2016).…”

“…Ginger acts as anti-parasitic; study shows the in vivo potential of methanolic extract of Zingiber officinale in the treatment of trypanosomiasis (Halvorsen et al, 2002;Jagetia et al, 2003;Kubra et al, 2013;Duarte, 2016;Kumar et al, 2015;Choi et al, 2013;Saraswat, 2010;Pushpanathan, 2008).…”