The sesquiterpene lactone dehydroleucodine (DhL) affects the growth of cultured epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi

BRENGIO, SILVIA D; BELMONTE, SILVIA A; GUERREIRO, EDUARDO; GIORDANO, OSCAR S; PIETROBON, ELISA O; SOSA, MIGUEL ANGEL

JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY

Ed: Allen Press

Lugar: USA; Año: 2000 vol. 86 p. 407 - 412

0022-3395

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> The sesquiterpene lactone dehydroleucodine (DhL) affects the growth of cultured epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi. Brengio SD, Belmonte SA, Guerreiro E, Giordano OS, Pietrobon EO, Sosa MA.   Instituto de Histología y Embriología, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina.   Here, we report an inhibitory effect of a sesquiterpene lactone dehydroleucodine (DhL) on the growth of Trypanosoma cruzi in culture. At concentrations of the drug between 5 and 10 microg/ml in the medium,the parasites remained alive for at least 4 days. Higher concentrations of DhL were lethal for the parasites within a few hours. The effect of DhL is irreversible. Morphological changes induced by DhL were also observed in the parasites. The effect of DhL was blocked by the presence of reducing substrates such as glutathione or dithiothreitol, but these agents were not able to reverse the effect of DhL if added 2 days after the start of drug exposure.   PMID: 10780563 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE