Trypanocidal effect of terpenoid acids and derivatives of bile acids obtained from plants.

CAZORLA J; LOZANO E; PALERMO J; VEGA I; SOSA MA

Mendoza

Congreso; XXII Jornadas de Investigación, IV Jornadas de Posgrado de la Univesidad Nacional de Cuyo. XXVIII Reunión Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo.; 2010

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

Trypanosoma cruzi is the causative agent of Chagas disease. When cultured, this parasite cycles between epimastigote form and a low percentage is transformed to the infective form trypomastigote. Recently, we have found that some sesquiterpene lactones (STLS) and hydroxylated diterpene quinones obtained from native plants affect the growth of epimastigotes at very low concentrations and with low toxicity on mammalian cells. This work was focused on evaluating the effect of other families of natural compounds on T. Cruzi, to assess which were active against the parasite. Epimastigotes (Dm28C strain) were cultured in liquid media in the presence or absence of different concentrations of the compounds (2-10 μg/ml). Among the compounds tested, quinones coupled with steroids and terpenoids showed some antiproliferative effects on parasites. We have shown that seco-chiliolid acid, its derivative secochiliolilquinone and, to a lesser extent, secochiliolihidroquinone and lithocholic acid exert an important antiproliferative effect on epimastigotes. It remains to determine the IC50 values of these compounds and to evaluate the cytotoxicity on mammalian cells, in addition to the identification of molecular targets for the action of these molecules.