Composition and leishmanicidal activity of the essential oil of Vernonia polyanthes Less (Asteraceae)

Abstract

The composition of the essential oil (EO) from leaves of Vernonia polyanthes and the evaluation of its leishmanicidal potential are reported here for the first time. The oil obtained by hydrodistillation was analysed by combination of GC and GC/MS. Thirty-five compounds were identified, representing 91.8% of the oil composition. The oil consists primarily of monoterpenes (37.1%), sesquiterpenes (26.3%) and oxygenated sesquiterpenes (23.9%), myrcene (34.3%), zerumbone (15.8%), bicyclogermacrene (8.9%), α-humulene (4.8%) and germacrene D (4.3%) being the major constituents. Activity against Leishmania infantum was determined using the tetrazolium dye (MTT) colorimetric method. The oil, as well as zerumbone, one of its major constituents, showed significant leishmanicidal activity, with IC values of 19.4 and 9.0 μg/ml, respectively. Cytotoxicity in macrophages cells was evaluated using the MTT colorimetric assay. The EO showed the CC < 10 μg/ml to macrophages cells.

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

“…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). Leishmanicidal activity exhibited by EOs from E. erythropappus can be explained by the high concentration of α-bisabolol, which had also been previously identified in EOs from Vanillosmopis arborea.…”

Asteraceae Plants as Sources of Compounds Against Leishmaniasis and Chagas Disease

“…The major compounds identified in this EO were modheph-2-ene (8.69%), agurjunene (9.61%), trans-caryophyllene (10.42%), β-isocomene (10.26%), and α-isocomene (15.41%) (Martins et al, 2015). Similarly, Moreira et al (2017) studied the effect of the EO from leaves of Vernonia polyanthes Less. against promastigotes forms of L. infantum .…”

“…The oil showed an IC50 of 19.4 μg/mL, while zerumbone (one of its major compound) had an IC50 of 9.0 μg/mL. The author did not report the SI value for zerumbone (Moreira et al, 2017).…”

Thein vitroantileishmanial activity of essential oil fromAloysia gratissimaand guaiol, its major sesquiterpene againstLeishmania amazonensis

“…Essential oils (EOs) are natural and complex mixtures of compounds obtained from different plants parts, such as flowers, leaves, fruits, roots or seeds, commonly used in folk medicine to treat different types of diseases (Costa, 1994). In general, EOs are constituted of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes compounds and some are reported to be active against Leishmania (Kvist et al 2006; Escobar et al 2010; Medeiros et al 2011; Farias-Junior, et al 2012; Soares et al 2013; Monzote et al 2014; Andrade et al 2016; Ceole et al 2017; Moreira et al 2017; Silva et al 2017).…”