Trypanocide activity of Castela coccinea Griseb. extracts

MARTINEZ, M L; CAMPAGNA, M.N; RATTI, M S.; NOCITO, I; SERRA ESTEBAN; GATUSSO, SJ; GATTUSSO, M A

BOLETíN LATINOAMERICANO Y DEL CARIBE DE PLANTAS MEDICINALES Y AROMáTICAS

SOC FITOQUIMICA LATINOAMERICANA

Año: 2009 vol. 8 p. 211 - 218

0717-7917

Castela coccinea Griseb is a small tree that belongs to Simaroubaceae family. This work shows that this plant extracts present in vitro a strong activity against Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes. Particularly, wood dichloromethane extract displayed the most intensive trypanocide effect. A fraction of this extract, purified by column chromatography over Silica-gel, was enriched in coumarins, phenolic acids and alkaloids. This fraction was even more effective with an IC50 of 15 μg/mL. Our results suggest that alkaloids could be the responsible compounds for this activity. The 8-amino-6-methoxyquinoline group was detected by GC-MS, even though the whole molecule could not be identified yet. On the other hand, all extracts have exhibited cytotoxicity against the human cell line K-562, at high concentrations. However, the selectivity index of wood dichloromethane extract has been 7.5.