CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Trypanosoma cruzi is a parasite responsible of Chagas disease, an endemic pathology that affects millions people in Latin America. On the other hand, the benzoquinone embelin, a natural compound from Oxalis erythrorhiza, was studied due to its biological properties (antiinflamatory affects, antioxidant and antitumour activity, among other). The aim was evaluate the effect of embelin (1) and its methylated derivative (2) on different stages of the parasite.The compound (1) and (2) were tested on growth and viability of Dm28c strain epimastigotes. Viability was determined by the eosin exclusion method and proliferation by counting the parasites in a Neubauer hemocytometer. The effects on epimastigote ultrastructure were observed by TEM. To evaluate the effect of the compounds on intracellular amastigotes, infected and non infected Vero cells were cultured in DMEM. The number of intracellular parasites was counting after staining the cells with Giemsa. Compounds (1) and (2) showed to be active onproliferation of epimastigotes without affecting the viability. The IC50 value of (2) on epimastigotes was similar to benznidazole (control) whereas, the IC50 value for (1) was higher. Methylated embelin (2) induced ultrastructuralalterations, such as mitochondrial swelling and cytoplasmic vacuolization. Citotoxicity on Vero cells was similar to that of benznidazole. Proliferating amastigotes were also affected by the methylated embelin, as well as the release of parasites. The results indicate that embelin (1) and its derivative (2) exhibit cytostatic activity on epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi. The effects on mitochondria could be related to embelin inducing ROS generation. The results in amastigotes suggest that methylated embelin could affect the proliferation of amastigotes and/or the release from cells. Further studies will be needed to identify the molecular targets on this parasite. (CICITCA UNSJ PIOSECITI1502015-0100022