Investigation of Antiparasitic Activity of 10 European Tree Bark Extracts on Toxoplasma gondii and Bioguided Identification of Triterpenes in Alnus glutinosa Barks

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis is a worldwide parasitosis that affects one-third of the population. People at risk, such as immunocompromised patients (AIDS, chemotherapy treatment) or fetuses (maternal-fetal transmission) can develop severe forms of the disease. The antiparasitic activity of extracts of different polarities ( n -heptane, MeOH, MeOH/H 2 O) of ten tree species endemics to temperate regions was investigated against Toxoplasma gondii infection in vitro . Our results showed that the n -heptane extract of the black alder ( Alnus glutinosa ) exhibited a significant antiparasitic activity without any cytotoxicity at the tested concentrations, with an IC 50 of up to 25.08 μg/mL and a selectivity index higher than 3.99. The chemical profiling of this extract revealed triterpenes as major constituents. The ability of commercially available triterpene (betulin, betulinic acid, and betulone) to inhibit the growth of T. gondii was evaluated and showed growth inhibition rates of 44%, 49%, and 99% at 10 μM, respectively.

Combining Laccase-Mediated Dimerization of Resveratrol and Centrifugal Partition Chromatography: Optimization of E-Labruscol Production and Identification of New Resveratrol Dimers

“…After combining the collected fractions on the basis of TLC profile similarities, 16 adjacent fractions (F1, F2 [···] F16) containing simplified mixtures or even pure compounds were obtained (HPTLC fractogram is shown in Figure S3). The major stilbenes were annotated by using a 13 C NMR-based dereplication workflow as explained in Supporting Information. , The resulting heat map after hierarchical clustering analysis on the 13 C chemical shifts highlights four clusters (Figure ). The chemical shifts corresponding to each cluster were submitted as search keys to an in-house developed database that contains more than 5000 compounds to date and associates natural product structures to the predicted 1 H and 13 C NMR chemical shifts calculated by the ACD/Labs predictor.…”

Anti-Toxoplasma gondii effect of lupane-type triterpenes from the bark of black alder (Alnus glutinosa) and identification of a potential target by reverse docking

“…In a previous study [ 9 ], we demonstrated that the n -heptane extract of Alnus glutinosa bark had anti- Toxoplasma gondii activity. A bio-guided fractionation achieved by centrifugal partition chromatography and 13 C NMR-based dereplication showed that the active fractions were mainly composed of lupane-type triterpenes.…”

“…In a previous study, we demonstrated the strong anti- T. gondii activity of n -heptane bark extract of black alder ( Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.) amongst 30 extracts of different polarities from 10 temperate tree species [ 9 ]. The phytochemical study of this extract revealed the majority presence of lupane type triterpenes.…”

Rhodococcus strains as a good biotool for neutralizing pharmaceutical pollutants and obtaining therapeutically valuable products: Through the past into the future

“…Here are two examples to illustrate this. Betulone is an oxo-derived betulin—plant pentacyclic triterpenoid—that exhibits antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antiparasitic, anticancer, and anti-HIV properties ( Bębenek et al, 2018 ; Kolobova et al, 2019 ; Darme et al, 2022 ). The screening of collection strains showed that growing and resting R. rhodochrous IEGM 66 cells were capable of efficient transformation of up to 3 g/L of the triterpenoid betulin into betulone with a yield of 40–75% ( Grishko et al, 2013 ; Figure 4B ).…”