TRITERPENIC ACIDS AND FLAVONOIDS FROM SATUREJA PARVIFOLIA. EVALUATION OF THEIR ANTIPROTOZOAL ACTIVITY

VAN BAREN C; ANAO I; DI LEO LIRA P; DEBENEDETTI S; HOUGHTON P; CROFT S; MARTINO V

Z. Naturforsch.

Año: 2006 vol. 61 c p. 189 - 192

Satureja parvifolia (Philippi) Epling (Lamia­ceae) grows at the verge of rivers descending from the hills in the northwestern provinces of Argen­tina (Salta, Jujuy, Córdoba, Catamarca, Tucumán) and is known with the common name of "muña­muña". Its traditional uses are as digestive, emme­nagogue, aphrodisiac (Bandoni et al., 1972) and against altitude sickness (Orfila, 1972). Previous investigations on this plant de al with the chemical composition and the anttfungal activity of its es­sential oil (Zygadlo and Grosso, 1995; Muschietti et al., 1996; Viturro et al., 2000). The brine shrimp cytotoxicity (Mongelli et al., 1996), smooth muscle relaxant activity on the Guinea pig corpus caver­nosum (Hnatyszyn et al., 2003) and antimicrobial activity have been reported fm S. parvifolia ex­tracts (Hernández et al., 2000). In the course of an ongoing screening of Argen­tine medicinal plants fm antiplasmodial activity, MeOH and water extracts of S. parvifolia leaves showed significant activity against Plasmodium falciparum K1 with ICso of 3 and 8.5 ,ug/ml, respec­tively (Debenedetti et al., 2002). Bioassay-guided fractionation of the MeOH extract was encour­aged in the search fm the bioactive compounds. The ability to inhibit Plasmodium falciparum 3D7, a chloroquine sensitive strain, and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense was further tested for the iso­lated compounds.