THE NATURAL FLAVONOID APIGENIN IS ACTIVE AGAINST Trypanosoma cruzi EPIMASTIGOTES

CANO R; CIFUENTES D; MIGUEL A. SOSA; LOZANO E

Congreso; IV JOINT MEETING OF THE BIOLOGY SOCIETIES OF ARGENTINA; 2020

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

Trypanosoma cruzi is the causal etiologic agent of Chagas disease. In cultures, this parasite is mainly found in the epimastigote form and a lowpercentage in the infective form trypomastigote. The current chemotherapy against T. cruzi is insufficient because the available drugs, Nifurtimoxand Benznidazole, have limited activity, and show toxic side effects in patients. Therefore, the "screening" of purified molecules from naturalsources, mainly plant leaves has become an important tool for the fight against Chagas disease. Many natural compounds, extracted from nativeplants of Argentina, have been shown to be effective against the parasite. Among them, flavonoids are an important family of molecules that havebeen widely studied. In this work we analyze the effect of the natural flavonoid Apigenin (AGN) isolated from Larrea divaricata, on the growth of T.cruzi epimastigotes (strain Dm28c). AGN showed an antiproliferative effect on epimastigotes, even at low concentrations. This effect wasirreversible even in the short term of exposure to the compound. AGN does not significantly affect the mitochondrial activity of the parasites, at allthe concentrations tested (1, 5, and 10 μg/mL) but alteration in ROS levels were observed when 5 and 10 μg/mL of AGN were used. When weanalyzed the ultrastructure of the parasites, we observed an increase in cytoplasmic vacuolization and the presence of structures that appear to be like?membrane blisters?. From these results it is necessary to identify the molecular targets of the parasites for the action of this compound and todetermine if AGN can affect the life cycle of T cruzi.