Evaluation of in vitro Antifungal Activity of Xylosma prockia (Turcz.) Turcz. (Salicaceae) Leaves Against Cryptococcus spp.

FOLLY, MARIANY L. C.; FERREIRA, GABRIELLA F.; SALVADOR, MAIARA R.; SATHLER, ANA A.; DA SILVA, GUILHERME F.; SANTOS, JOICE CASTELO BRANCO; SANTOS, JULLIANA R. A. DOS; NUNES NETO, WALLACE RIBEIRO; RODRIGUES, JOÃO FRANCISCO SILVA; FERNANDES, ELIZABETH SOARES; DA SILVA, LUÍS CLÁUDIO NASCIMENTO; DE FREITAS, GUSTAVO JOSÉ COTA; DENADAI, ÂNGELO M.; RODRIGUES, IVANILDES V.; MENDONÇA, LEONARDO M.; MONTEIRO, ANDREA SOUZA; SANTOS, DANIEL ASSIS; CABRERA, GABRIELA M.; SILESS, GASTÓN; LANG, KAREN L.

Frontiers in Microbiology

Frontiers Media S.A.

Lugar: Lausana; Año: 2020 vol. 10

Cryptococcus species are responsible for important systemic mycosis and areestimated to cause millions of new cases annually. The available therapy is limiteddue to the high toxicity and the increasing rates of yeast resistance to antifungaldrugs. Popularly known as ?sucará,? Xylosma prockia (Turcz.) Turcz. (Salicaceae) is anative plant from Brazil with little information on its pharmacological potential. In thiswork, we evaluated in vitro anticryptococcal effects of the leaf ethanolic extract ofX. prockia and its fractions against Cryptococcus gattii and Cryptococcus neoformans.We also evaluated phenotypic alterations caused by ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) (chosenaccording to its biological results). The liquid chromatography?mass spectrometry (LCMS)analysis of EAF demonstrated the presence of phenolic metabolites that belong tothree structurally related groups as majority compounds: caffeoylquinic acid, coumaroylglucoside,and caffeoyl-glucoside/deoxyhexosyl-caffeoyl glucoside derivatives. Theminimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values against C. gattii and C. neoformansranged from 8 to 64 mg/L and from 0.5 to 8 mg/L, for ethanolic extract and EAF,respectively. The EAF triggered an oxidative burst and promoted lipid peroxidation.EAF also induced a reduction of ergosterol content in the pathogen cell membrane.These effects were not associated with alterations in the cell surface charge or in thethermodynamic fingerprint of the molecular interaction between EAF and the yeastsevaluated. Cytotoxic experiments with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)demonstrated that EAF was more selective for yeasts than was PBMCs. The resultsmay provide evidence that X. prockia leaf extract might indeed be a potential source ofantifungal agents.