Antileishmanial activity of nerolidol-rich essential oil from Piper claussenianum

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is one of the most neglected tropical diseases, representing a group of parasitic diseases worldwide spread, occurring in 88 tropical and subtropical countries. Approximately 350 million people live in areas of active transmission of leishmaniasis, with about 1-2 million estimated new cases occurring every year. More than 90% of the cutaneous cases appear in developing countries. Efforts to improve the therapeutic arsenal against leishmaniasis have led to the search for new and cheap range of drugs. In this study, the nerolidol-rich essential oil from Piper claussenianum (Miq.) C. DC., Piperaceae, was assayed on arginase activity of Leishmania amazonensis. The effect of this essential oil on arginase activity levels showed an enzyme inhibition of 62.2%. This result stimulates the scientific interest about the potential value of this plant species on neglected diseases as potential new natural product source of pharmacological interest for the treatment of leishmaniasis.

Anti‐Parasitic Activity of Essential Oils and their Active Constituents against Plasmodium, Trypanosoma and Leishmania

“…The results showed an enzyme inhibition of 62.2% at the ICSO. The EO showed no toxic effect to fibroblasts or to macrophages cell lines in any concentration tested (ranging from 40 to 0.56 mg/mL) (Marques et al, 2011).…”

Traditional use, chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of Pectis brevipedunculata essential oil: A correlated lemongrass species in Brazil

“…Plant derivative products could be used as viable alternatives to microbial contaminants control in foods such as moulds, and be used in foods conservation systems, since many synthetic compounds are considered responsible for many carcinogenic and teratogenic attributes as well as residual toxicity (Yaouba et al, 2010). Numerous studies have been published on the antimicrobial activities of plant compounds against many different types of microbes, including foodborne pathogens (Garcia et al, 2008;Marques et al, 2011). It is known that the wide and indiscriminate use of synthetic antimicrobial medicines are leading to hypersensitivity reactions as well as developing resistance to many currently used medicines (Adinarayana et al, 2012).…”

Nerolidol: A Sesquiterpene Alcohol with Multi-Faceted Pharmacological and Biological Activities

“…Among the plants that are rich in EOs are Baccharis dracunculifolia DC, Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton, Momordica charantia L., Piper aleyreanum C. DC and Piper claussenianum (Miq.) C. DC [7,8,9,10,11].…”