IN VITRO TRYPANOCIDAL EFFECT OF THE LEAVES AND STEMS PETROLEUM ETHER EXTRACT FROM Artemisia mendozana (Asteraceae)

PIÑEIRO M; SPINA R; HERRERA CANO, N; TAPIA A; SOSA MA; FERESIN G

Congreso; XXXV Reunión Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2018

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

Chaga´s disease is caused by the intracellular parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Currently, approximately 5.7 million people are infected worldwide, and 10,000 deaths occur annually, making this disease the major cause of death in Latin America. Benznidazole and nifurtimox, drugs used for the treatment, have important side effects and limited efficacy, mainly against the advanced chronic phase, which have restricted its use and led to discontinuation of treatment, especially in adult populations. The development of new anti-parasitic and more specific drugs (low toxicity) to the host isneeded. The aim was evaluate the in vitro trypanocidal activity of the extracts from A. mendozana collected in province of San Juan (Argentina). The air-dried plant material was separated in leaves (500 g) and stems (125 g), both were macerated (72 h) with petroleum ether; then were filtered and evaporated under a rotary evaporator, to obtain leaves and stems petroleum etherextracts respectively (PEEL , PEES). To the assessment of trypanocidal activity, 3.106 epimastigotes/mL were incubated in Diamond?s medium supplemented with 15% fetal bovine serum and hemin at 28 °C. Treatments were performed with PEE of A. mendozana with a concentration of 50 μg/mL (dissolved in DMSO). Negative control: parasites incubated without extract; positive control: parasites incubated with benznidazole (5μg/mL). Aliquots of the cultures were collected at 24, 48 and 72 h, and were counted in Neubauer chamber under optical microscopy to evaluate growth. To evaluate the survival, aliquots (24 and 48 h) were stained (eosin exclusion test) and observed under optical microscopy. The growth of T. cruzi treated with PEEL and PEES was significantly lower than the negative control (T=47.12; p=0.01 and T=44.01; p