IN VITRO EVALUATION OF TRIPANOCIDAL ACTIVITY IN PLANTS USED IN ARGENTINE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE

SULSEN V; GUIDA C; COUSSIO J; PAVETO C; MUSCHIETTI L; MARTINO V

PARASITOL RES.

Año: 2006 vol. 98 p. 370 - 374

Chagas disease or South American trypanosomiasis, is an endemic disease in Latin America, caused by the flagellate protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. The prevalence of the infition is estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO in 16-18 million cases and is a threat to 100 million peopl who are at risk of infection, mainly in rural areas or via b od transfusion (WHO- World Hea1th Organization 1998), Although great advances are being made to control the transmission, like vector chemical attack or systemic screening ofblood donors, more effective chemotherapy is needed for people who are akeady infected (Rodriguez Coma and de Castro 2002). The primary drugs nifurtimox and benznidazol have been in use for 40 years and are effective on1y during the early acute stage of infection and are poorIy tolerated. The development of new, safer and more effective try­panocidal compounds is still a challenge". _use these drugs arenot given high priority by the R_uased phar­maceutical industry (Troullier et al. 2002). Natural products proved to be an important source oflead compounds in the development of new drugs. Artemisinin, quinine and licochalcone A are examples of plant-derived products with antiparasitic activity. Screening natural prod­ucts provide chance to discover new molecules of unique struc e with high activity and selectivity (Kayser et al. 2003). The aim of this study was to determine the in vitro trypanocidal activity of several Argentine medicinal plants in the search for new trypanocidallead compounds. Thirty­two organic and aqueous extracts belonging to Ambrosia scabra, Ambrosia tenuifolia, Baccharis spicata, Cuphea carthagenensis, Cuphea glutinosa, Cuphea ingrata, Eu­patorium buniifolium, Eupatorium candolleanum, Gentia­nella achalensis, Lippia integrifolia, Mulinum spinosum and Satureja parvifolia were tested. The selection of the species was main1y based by fol­lowing up ethnomedical uses for the treatment or relief of symptoms related with parasitic infections. Another crite­rion for selection included species belongin  the family Asteraceae (E. buniifolium and B. spicata)                precedent of antiprotozoal aCivi (Chiari et al. 1996) r species with potential bioactive antiprotozoal compounds such as mulinane-type dite enoids, as is the cas_ t:ói M spinosum (Araya et al. 2003; Loyola et al. 2004). /