In vitro antiparasitic activity and chemical composition of the essential oil from Protium ovatum leaves (Burceraceae)

Abstract

Leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis are globally widespread parasitic diseases which have been responsible for high mortality rates. Since drugs available for their treatment are highly hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic and cardiotoxic, adherence to therapy has been affected. Thus, the search for new, more effective and safer drugs for the treatment of these diseases is necessary. Natural products have stood out as an alternative to searching for new bioactive molecules with therapeutic potential. In this study, the chemical composition and antiparasitic activity of the essential oil from Protium ovatum leaves against trypomastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi and the promastigote forms of Leishmania amazonensis were evaluated. The essential oil was promising against trypomastigote forms of T. cruzi (IC 50 = 28.55 μg.mL -1 ) and L.amazonensis promastigotes (IC 50 = 2.28 μg.mL -1 ). Eighteen chemical constituents were identified by GasChromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) in the essential oil, whose major constituents were spathulenol (17.6 %), caryophyllene oxide (16.4 %), β-caryophyllene (14.0 %) and myrcene (8.4 %).In addition, the essential oil from P. ovatum leaves had moderate cytotoxicity against LLCMK 2 adherent epithelial cell at the concentration range under analysis (CC 50 = 150.9 μg.mL -1 ). It should be highlighted that this is the first report of the chemical composition and anti-Trypanosoma cruzi and anti-Leishmania amazonensis activities of the essential oil from Protium ovatum leaves.

In vitro evaluation of anticaries, antimycobacterial, antileishmanial and cytotoxic activities of essential oils from Eremanthus erythropappus and of α-bisabolol, their major sesquiterpene

“…Due to its broad-spectrum antifungal activity, it has been used as a second-line drug against leishmaniasis, since it shows high toxicity against the host (Fernández-Garcia et al, 2017). Previous studies of antiparasitic activities have established that EOs can be highly active (IC 50 < 10 μg/mL), active (IC 50 > 10 < 50 μg/mL), moderately active (IC 50 > 50 < 100 μg/mL) or inactive (IC 50 > 100 μg/mL) (Estevam et al, 2017). Not only EL-EO and ES-EO exhibit strong leishmanicidal activity, but also other species of the family Asteraceae stand out as producers of active EOs against parasites of the genus Leishmania: Artemisia campestris (Aloui et al, 2016), Artemisia herba-alba (Tamargo et al, 2017), Artemisia absinthium (Tamargo et al, 2017), Artemisia abyssinica (Tariku et al, 2010), Vernonia brasiliana (Martins et al, 2015b) and Vernonia polyanthes (Moreira et al, 2017).…”

Trypanocidal Essential Oils: A Review

“…Estevam et al (2017) [ 41 ] investigated the trypanocidal activity of the EO of Protium ovatum Engl. against T. cruzi trypomastigotes (IC 50 = 28.55 μg/mL).…”

Efficacy of the Aqueous Extract of Azadirachta indica Against the Marine Parasitic Leech and Its Phytochemical Profiling

“…The best alternative is the application of the natural product as a biocontrol agent due to the presence of various metabolites with less or zero toxicity [10]. Extracts and essential oils from a natural product can act as herbicide, antimicrobial, anticancer and antiparasitic agents [11][12][13][14]. Azadirachta indica (neem plant) belongs to the family Meliaceae, commonly found in the Indo-Malayan region and other parts of the world [15,16].…”