Antileishmanial activity of some Brazilian plants, with particular reference to Casearia sylvestris

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is a complex of diseases caused by Leishmania protozoa which treatment is restricted to a limited number of drugs that exhibit high toxicity, collateral effects and are often costly. There are a variety of tropical plants distributed in Brazil, and for many poor people the therapy for several diseases is based mainly on the use of traditional herbal remedies. In this work, the cytotoxic activity of 17 plant methanol extracts was evaluated on several Leishmania species and murine macrophages. Among them, the extract of Casearia sylvestris, Piptocarpha macropoda, Trembleya parviflora, Samanea tubulosa and Plectranthus neochilus showed a promissing leishmanicidal activity, exhibiting IC 50 values below of 20 µg/mL against at least one species of Leishmania. Casearia sylvestris showed the most expressive activity against all promastigote forms of Leishmania species (IC 50 values of 5.4 µg/mL, 5.0 µg/mL, 8.5 µg/mL and 7.7 µg/ mL for L. amazonensis, L. braziliensis, L. chagasi and L. major, respectively), being more effective than the reference drug miltefosine. In spite of the cytotoxic effect on macrophages (CC 50 value of 5.2 µg/mL), C. sylvestris exhibited a strong inhibition against intracellular amastigotes of L. braziliensis (IC 50 value of 1.3 µg/ mL). Further studies, including bio-guided fractionation will be conducted to identify the active compounds.

In vitro evaluation of the leishmanicidal potential of selected plant-derived extracts against Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensi

“…Several extracts and compounds isolated from plants have been investigated for their biological properties, including their leishmanicidal activit. 20,21 In the present study, thirteen hexane extracts from leaves of cultivable herbaceous or arbustive plant species (Table 1) were evaluated against L. (L.) amazonensis. The hexane extracts of these species were selected on the basis of previous reports in the literature or on their use as antimicrobial and antiparasitic activities in folk medicine.…”

“…28 Another study, Antinarelli and co-workers demonstrated that the methanolic extract of P. neochilus showed active against L. (L.) chagasi, but it did not show activity against L.(L.) amazonensis, L.(L.) major and Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensi. 20 Despite these results, it is interesting to notice that extracts methanolic and/or hexanic from the genus Plectranthus has showed values of EC 50 considered active or moderately active, because of that this genus should be better investigated about its antiparasitic activity.…”

“…However, the methanolic extract of P. neochilus presented a CC 50 value of 111μg/mL when incubated with peritoneal macrophages after 72hours of incubation. 20 According to one study, a selectivity index (SI) value greater than 10 can suggest better safety of the product for use in mammals. 31 The hexane extract of B. sulphurea showed a SI of 1.23 and 1.98 in 24h and 48h, respectively.…”

Guaçatonga - Casearia sylvestris SW - e porangaba - Cordia salicifolia ou Cordia ecalyculata Vell / Boraginaceae - possuem ação no emagrecimento?: https://doi.org/10.31415/bjns.v1i3.34

“…A guaçatonga, Casearia sylvestris (C. sylvestris) é vastamente utilizada na medicina popular da América Latina, sendo de aplicação diversa, principalmente em comunidades indígenas. O uso dessa planta é descrito como cicatrizante para doenças da pele (7,8) e outras (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15) . A porangaba (Cordia salicifolia Cham., C. salicifolia) é da família Boraginaceae.…”

“…A ação anti-inflamatória e antioxidante da C. sylvestris foi relatada (64) . Também foi relatada a atividade de casearinas isoladas de C. sylvestris contra leishmania e Trypanosoma cruzi (15,37,65,66) .…”