Antifungal activity against Cryptococcus neoformans strains and genotoxicity assessment in human leukocyte cells of Euphorbia tirucalli L.

Abstract

In the last times, focus on plant research has increased all over the world. Euphorbia tirucalli L., a plant known popularly as Aveloz, and originally used in Africa, has been drawing attention for its use in the United States and Latin America, both for use as an ornamental plant and as a medicinal plant. E. tirucalli L. is a member of the family Euphorbiaceae and contains many diterpenoids and triterpenoids, in particular phorbol esters, apparently the main constituent of this plant, which are assumed to be responsible for their activities in vivo and in vitro. The in vitro antifungal activities of Euphorbia tirucalli (L.) against opportunistic yeasts were studied using microbroth dilution assay. The results showed that aqueous extract and latex preparation were effective against ten clinical strains of Cryptococcus neoformans in vitro (Latex and extract MIC range of 3.2 – > 411 μg/mL). Aiming the safe use in humans, the genotoxic effects of E. tirucalli were evaluated in human leukocytes cells. Our data show that both aqueous extract and latex preparation have no genotoxic effect in human leukocytes cells in vitro. Although the results cannot be extrapolated by itself for use in vivo, they suggest a good perspective for a therapeutic application in future. In conclusion, our results show that the aqueous extract and latex preparation from E. tirucalli L. are antifungal agents effectives against several strains of C. neoformans and do not provoke DNA damage in human leukocyte cells, considering the concentrations tested.

Antifungals discovery: an insight into new strategies to combat antifungal resistance

“…Between the years 2014 and 2015, many studies reported the antifungal potential of NCs: (i) monoterpenes (volatile oils; Miron et al . ); (ii) aqueous extract and latex preparation from Euphorbia tirucalli L. (De Oliveira et al ., ); (iii) parnafungins (Roemer and Krysan ); (iv) anthraquinones from Morinda tomentosa (Favre‐Godal et al . ); (v) Brazilian red propolis ( n ‐hexane extract; Pippi et al .…”

Inhibition of mycothione disulphide reductase and mycobacterial biofilm by selected South African plants

“…In a study by Mariita et al, (2010), the antimycobacterial activity of E. tirucalli was reported to have an MIC of 2 mg/ml using the BACTEC MGIT 960 system. This activity could be attributed due to its high tannin, flavonoid and terpenoid content, especially diterpenoids and triterpenoids found in the Euphorbiaceae family (Oliveira et al, 2014;Seebaluck-Sandoram et al, 2018;Zengin et al, 2017).…”

Effect of crude latex from Euphorbia tirucalli on DMBA-induced carcinogenesis

“…Each cage was lined with wood shavings, contained a maximum of five animals and was cleaned twice per week. The animals were individually weighed at 3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19 and 20 weeks using an analytical scale (Gehaka®, model BG 440).…”

“…The latex from this species is commonly used in traditional medicine [3] for the treatment of cancer [2,[4][5][6][7]. This substance is also reported to have immunomodulatory [7,8], analgesic [9], angiogenic [10], antimicrobial [11], antimutagenic and antirheumatic [12] properties.…”