Leishmaniasis causes considerable mortality throughout the world, affecting more than 12 million people. Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf, Family Poaceae, is a widely used herb in tropical countries and is also known as a source of ethnomedicines. In this study, the inhibitory effect and the morphological and ultrastructural alterations on Leishmania amazonensis by the essential oil (EO) of C. citratus and its main constituent, citral, were evaluated. The results showed that the antiproliferative activity of EO on promastigotes and axenic amastigotes, and intracellular amastigote forms of L. amazonensis was significantly better than citral, and indicated a dose-dependent effect. Neither compound showed a cytotoxic effect on macrophage strain J774G8. The promastigote forms of L. amazonensis underwent remarkable morphological and ultrastructural alterations compared with untreated cultures. These alterations were visible by light, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy of promastigotes treated with EO and citral at concentrations corresponding to the IC(50) (1.7 and 8.0 microg/ml) and IC(90) (3.2 and 25 microg/ml), respectively, after 72 h of incubation. This study revealed that citral-rich essential oil from C. citratus has promising antileishmanial properties, and is a good candidate for further research to develop a new anti-protozoan drug.

Extracts from the dried pericarp of Sapindus saponaria L. (Sapindaceae) fruits were investigated for their antifungal activity against clinical isolates of yeasts Candida albicans and C. non-albicans from vaginal secretions of women with Vulvovaginal Candidiasis. Four clinical isolates of C. albicans, a single clinical isolated of each of the species C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata, C. tropicalis, and the strain of C. albicans ATCC 90028 were used. The hydroalcoholic extract was bioactivity-directed against a clinical isolate of C. parapsilosis, and showed strong activity. The n-BuOH extract and one fraction showed strong activity against all isolates tested. Further column-chromatography on silica gel separation of this fraction afforded two pure triterpene acetylated saponins: 3-O-(4-acetyl-beta-D-xylopyranosyl)-(1->3)-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1->2)-alpha-L-arabinopyranosyl-hederagenin (1) and 3-O-(3,4-di-acetyl-beta-D-xylopyranosyl)-(1->3)-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1->2)-alpha-L-arabynopyranosyl-hederagenin (2). The structures of the compounds were based on spectral data ((1)H and 13C NMR, HSQC, HMBC and MS), and on with literature. The saponins isolated showed strong activity against C. parapsilosis.

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Infections due to protozoa of the genusLeishmaniasis is a tropical disease caused by protozoa of the Leishmania genus. These protozoa cause a disease with different clinical forms, among them cutaneous, hyperergic, mucocutaneous, and anergic diffuse leishmaniasis (Leon et al. 1990a). The disease is endemic in some geographical areas of Brazil, where it constitutes a serious health problem (Lonardoni et al. 1999, Leon et al. 2002.The drugs of choice for the treatment of leishmaniasis are the pentavalent antimonials (Sb V ), but they present renal and cardiac toxicity. A second choice for the treatment of the disease is a diamidine (pentamidine isethionate), which also has serious side effects (Korolkovas & Burckhalter 1988). However already in some trials alternative pharmaceutical formulations have been used to reduce the toxicity of these drugs (Frezard et al. 2000) The lack of an effective anti-leishmanial drug led a renewed interest in the study of traditional remedies as sources for the development of new chemotherapeutic compounds with better activity and less toxicity. Several plants have been used for the treatment of parasitic diseases (Araujo et al. 1998). In order to find new drugs against leishmaniasis, we have studied alkaloidal extracts of Brazilian plants (Oliveira et al. 2002) as "guatambu", is a tree which grows from to 12-30 m in height and is native to the forests in Southeastern Brazil (Lorenzi 1992). Some alkaloids have been previously isolated from the stem bark (Reis et al. 1996), and the alkaloid extract of the bark showed antimicrobial activity against Gram positive and negative bacteria (Oliveira 1999). The aim of the present study is to investigate the anti-leishmanial activity of alkaloidal extracts from the stem bark of A. ramiflorum against L. (V.) braziliensis and L. (L.) amazonensis. MATERIALS AND METHODSPlant materials -A. ramiflorum Muell. Arg. was collected in the Horto Florestal de Maringá, July 2000, in Maringá, state of Paraná, Brazil. The plant was collected and identified by Prof. Dr Ismar Sebastião Moscheta and an exsiccatum deposited and authenticated at the Herbarium of the State University of Maringá, Maringá, Brazil.Extraction of plant materials -Air-dried stem bark (1 kg) was extracted with 70% ethanol at room temperature. After removal of the ethanol, the crude extract was added to a 10% acetic acid solution (v/v) and kept at 5 o overnight. After filtration, the aqueous phase was first extracted with chloroform (acid extract), then the pH raised to 10 and the resulting solution re-extracted with chloroform (basic extract). The two chloroform extracts were concentrated under reduced pressure, and then lyophilised yielding the acid (7.7 g) and basic fractions (11.6 g), which were both analyzed by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The main bulk of the alkaloids was in the basic fraction which was called the alkaloidal extract and which was used for the assays.