Potential Antileishmanial Activity of Essential Oils of Native Species from Southern Brazil

Abstract

Leishmaniasis are a neglected tropical diseases that affecting 98 countries on three continents. Every year, 1.3 million of people are infected with the disease and 50.000 persons die because of this. The aim of this work was to evaluate antileishmanial activities in vitro from native species of South of Brazil belonging to the Myrtaceae family. The essential oils from leaves of Calyptranthes grandifolia, Calyptranthes tricona, Eugenia anomala, Eugenia arenosa, Eugenia pyriformis, Myrrhinium atropurpureum and Psidium salutare were analyzed in vitro for antileishmanial activity against promastigotes of Leishmania amazonensis, employed MTT assay. The essential oils from leaves of C. grandifolia, C. tricona, E. arenosa and E. pyriformis presented IC50 values of 31.27 ± 6.40 µg/mL, 26.13 ± 8.60 µg/mL, 13.72 ± 8.65 µg/mL and 19.73 ± 5.40 µg/mL, respectively, and not are statistically different from pentamidine (IC50 = 23.22 ± 9.04 µg/mL), the reference drug. The results show the potential of essential oils from leaves of C. grandifolia, C. tricona, E. arenosa and E. pyriformis as antileishmanial, as well as the importance of continuing studies to in order to advance in the search and development of new therapeutic options from of brazilian flora sources.

Antiparasitic effect of Psidium guajava on promastigotes and axenic amastigotes of Leishmania

“…Another study on promastigotes and amastigotes of L. amazonensis showed that the hydroalcoholic extract of P. guajava leaves at 100 µg /mL reduced growth by 65.4% and 52%, respectively [19]. Another species of the Psidium genus, P. salutare, showed a limited inhibition effect on the growth of promastigotes of L. amazonensis [20] Speci c metabolites such as kaempferol, a avonol found in different plants such as Brassica oleracea and Hamamelis virginiana, have shown to be effective against axenic amastigotes and amastigotes in macrophages of L. donovani [21]. Previous studies report the use of P. guajava in traditional medicine against leishmaniasis in local communities where the plant grows [22][23][24][25][26] Another study on the metabolites of P. guajava leaves against the axenic amastigotes and promastigotes of L. infantum showed parasite activity mainly in the apolar fractions, and the crude ethanolic extract at 25 µg/mL against axenic amastigotes inhibited 50% of the parasites in the crude extract and up to 80% in the apolar fractions as triterpenoids including jacumaric acid and corosolic acid, while, at 25 µg/mL and 50 µg/mL in promastigotes, no activity was observed in either the polar or apolar fractions [27].…”

Antiparasitic effect of Psidium guajava on promastigotes and axenic amastigotes of Leishmania

“…19 Another species of the Psidium genus, P. salutare, showed a limited inhibition effect on the growth of promastigotes of L. amazonensis. 20 Specific metabolites such as kaempferol, a flavonol found in different plants such as Brassica oleracea and Hamamelis virginiana, have shown to be effective against axenic amastigotes and amastigotes in macrophages of L. donovani. 21 Previous studies report the use of P. guajava in traditional medicine against leishmaniasis in local communities where the plant grows.…”

Antimicrobial and antileukemic effects: in vitro activity ofCalyptranthes grandifoliaaqueous leaf extract

“…These data are in agreement with our findings which demonstrated a high amount of polyphenols in the aqueous extract of C. grandifolia. Since there are only few data concerning the chemical composition of C. grandifolia, our study is of importance and our identified molecules need to be added to the known molecules previously identified in this species which may help to elucidate some attributed biological activities such as neuromodulatory effects (Kich et al 2016) and potent antileishmanial actions (Kauffmann et al 2016).…”

“…Since modulation of the immune system has been an emerging concept in the control of tumor cell proliferation, targeting protein kinases may be a useful strategy to generate antitumor drugs (Kauffmann et al 2016;Limberger et al 2002). In order to investigate the specificity of C. grandifolia as a kinase inhibitor, the aqueous extract was tested for its ability to inhibit JAK3 and p38α in vitro.…”

“…Calyptranthes grandifolia O. Berg is a Southern Brazilian native plant member of this family (Limberger et al 2002). The essential oil of C. grandifolia was found to be a potent antileishmanial agent with cytotoxic activity on RAW 264.7 and CHO-K1 cell lines (Faleiro et al 2017;Kauffmann et al 2016). Regarding the antitumor effects, Dexheimer et al (2017) demonstrated that the ethanolic extract of C. grandifolia inhibited TNF-α gene expression and cytokine release.…”