Flavonoids and Sesquiterpene Lactones fromArtemisia absinthiumandTanacetum partheniumagainstSchistosoma mansoniWorms

Abstract

Human schistosomiasis, caused by trematode worms of the genus Schistosoma, is one of the most significant neglected tropical diseases, affecting more than 200 million individuals worldwide and praziquantel is the only available drug to treat this disease. Artemisia absinthium L. and Tanacetum parthenium L. are species popularly used as anthelmintics. We investigated the in vitro schistosomicidal activity of crude extracts of A. absinthium (AA) and T. parthenium (TP) and their isolated compounds. AA and TP, at 200 μg/mL, were active, causing 100% mortality of all adult worms. Chromatographic fractionation of AA leads to isolation of artemetin and hydroxypelenolide, while santin, apigenin, and parthenolide were isolated from TP. Artemetin, hydroxypelenolide, santin, and apigenin, at 100 μM, were inactive against adult worms. Parthenolide (12.5 to 100 μM) caused 100% mortality, tegumental alterations, and reduction of motor activity of all adult worms of S. mansoni, without affecting mammalian cells. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed tegumental morphological alterations and changes on the numbers of tubercles of S. mansoni worms. This report provides the first evidence for the in vitro activity of parthenolide against adult worms of S. mansoni, opening the route to further schistosomicidal studies with this compound.

Ziziphus spina-christi leaf extract ameliorates schistosomiasis liver granuloma, fibrosis, and oxidative stress through downregulation of fibrinogenic signaling in mice

“…PZO exhibit a limited effect once liver and spleen lesions have developed. Further, there is an increasing concern regarding the development of PZQ resistance [ 9 ], and this has encouraged the scientific community to develop innovative and low-cost treatment against schistosomiasis that could provide hepatic protection. Plant therapy has played an important role in this regard [ 1 ], and the search for antiparasitic compounds from natural sources, especially medicinal plants, has intensified [ 9 ].…”

Avaliação da atividade antileishmania in vitro de Tanacetum vulgare (Asteraceae)

“…A família Asteraceae está sendo investigada por muitos laboratórios e apresenta importantes perspectivas para o desenvolvimento de medicamentos contra diferentes agentes parasitários, como, Leishmania amazonensis e Trypanosoma cruzi (Schinor et al, 2007), Leishmania donovani e Plasmodium falciparum (Silva-Filho, et al, 2009) e Schistosoma mansoni (Almeida et al, 2016).…”

More insights into the pharmacological effects of artemisinin

“…It should be noted that in Artemisia species, artemisinin is not the unique medicinal molecule. The genus is abundant with other sesquiterpene lactones (de Almeida et al, ; Ivanescu, Miron, & Corciova, ; Shoaib et al, ; Tilaoui et al, ), which could have antihelmintic effects with less mammalian toxicity risk (Kerboeuf, Riou, & Guégnard, ).…”