ANTIPARASITIC ACTIVITY OF Vernonia fulta and V. nudiflora (Asteraceae) AGAINST Trypanosoma cruzi AND Leishmania amazonensis

URBANO K; BACH H; REDKO F; ULLOA JL; MUSCHIETTI LV; MUSCIA GC; FRANK FM

Itajaí

Simposio; 2º Simpósio Internacional Investigações Químico-Farmacêuticas; 2019

Universidade do Vale do Itajaí (Univali), Universidad de Salamanca (USAL) e Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), em conjunto com a Rede Ibero-americana de Estudo e Aproveitamento Sustentável da Biodiversidade Regional de Interesse Farmacêutico RIBIOFAR/CYTE

Chagas disease and leishmaniasis are relevant neglected tropical diseases. Current available treatments for these diseases have shown partial effectiveness and severe side effects. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of new drugs. The present work aims to evaluate the antiparasitic potential of Vernonia fulta and Vernonia nudiflora (Asteraceae) against Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania amazonensis.Fresh leaves of V. fulta and V. nudiflora were separately extracted by soaking each leaf in water (60-65°C) for 30 seconds with a continuous and gentle swinging motion. The aqueous extracts were filtered and partitioned with CH2Cl2 to afford an organic (CH2Cl2-FrF) and an aqueous fraction (Aq-FrF) for V. fulta and an organic (CH2Cl2-FrN) and an aqueous fraction (Aq-FrN) for V. nudiflora. The marc of the first extractions were air-dried and extracted successively with CH2Cl2 and MeOH to afford the corresponding extracts for each plant (CH2Cl2-ExF, CH2Cl2-ExN, MeOH-ExF and MeOH-ExN). In vitro antiparasitic activity of the different extracts and fractions was evaluated on T. cruzi epimastigotes and L. amazonensis promastigotes. Parasites were treated at 10 and 100 μg/ml for each sample. The number of parasites was counted on a Neubauer chamber. Activity was expressed as growth inhibition percentage and referred to control parasites treated with DMSO alone. Phytochemical analysis of the most active extracts was performed by TLC.The anti-T. cruzi activity of the different extracts ranged between 5-70% at 10 μg/ml and 28-97% at 100 μg/ml. CH2Cl2-FrF and CH2Cl2-ExF extracts were the most active ones with 96.6% and 87.4% of growth inhibition at 100 μg/ml, respectively. Antileishmanial activity showed growth inhibition of 4-99% at 10 μg/ml and 50-100% at 100 μg/ml where CH2Cl2-FrN of V. nudiflora showed the highest activity (>98% at both concentrations tested). Preliminary chromatographic analysis of the most active extracts revealed mainly the presence of terpenoid compounds, presumably sesquiterpene lactones.Both V. fulta and V. nudiflora showed antiparasitic activity. V. fulta inhibited the growth of both T. cruzi. and L. amazonensis while the effect of V. nudiflora was higher on L. amazonensis. The active extracts are being submitted to bioassay-guided fractionations in order to isolate the compound/s responsible for the antiparasitic activities.