Sesquiterpene lactones and the diterpene 5-epi-icetexone affect the intracellular and extracellular stages of Trypanosoma cruzi

LOZANO E; BARRERA P; SALINAS R; VEGA I; MATÍAS NIETO; TONN C ; KEMMERLING U; MORTARA R; SOSA MA

PARASITOLOGY INTERNATIONAL

ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2012 vol. 61 p. 628 - 633

1383-5769

Chagas’ disease is a major health problem in Latin America and is caused by the parasitic protozoan T. cruzi. Although many drugs have been used to alleviate the disease, these have been ineffective in the chronic phase and have also presented numerous side effects on patients. In this study we tested the effect of three sesquiterpene lactones (dehydroleucodine, helenalin and mexicanin) and a diterpene (5-epi-icetexone) on parasites (Y-strain) grown in host cells. The compounds inhibited the proliferation of amastigotes inside the cells, since the number of parasites per cell remained very low compared to controls, at 48 hours of treatment. This effect was observable at low concentrations (1.5-3.8 μM), which are of low cytotoxicity to host cells. In addition, the compounds caused a decrease in the percentage of infected cells. The treatments also reduced the presence of trypomastigotes in the extracellular medium suggesting an effect either on the release of parasites or their vitality (or both). In all cases, helenalin was the most potent. We conclude that these compounds are effective against intracellular forms of T. cruzi, inhibiting the proliferation of amastigotes, although an additional effect on the differentiation of the parasites and/or on the vitality of extracellular trypomastigotes may be possible.