XANTOMICROL MAY AFFECT THE PROLIFERATION OF TRYPANOSOMA CRUZI EPIMASTIGOTES BY MULTIPLE MECHANISMS

CANO, ROCIO YASMIN; CIFUENTES, DIEGO; SOSA,MIGUEL; LOZANO ESTEBAN SEBASTIAN

Congreso; XXXVII Reunión Científica Anual Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2019

Trypanosoma cruzi is the causal etiologic agent of Chagas disease. In cultures, this parasite is mainly found in the epimastigote form and a low percentage in the infective form trypomastigote. The current chemotherapy against T. cruzi is insufficient because the available drugs, Nifurtimox and Benznidazole, have limited activity, and show toxic side effects in patients. Therefore, the "screening" of purified molecules from natural sources, mainly plant leaves has become an important tool for the fight against Chagas disease. Many natural compounds, extracted from plants native of Argentina, have been shown to be effective against the parasite. Among them, flavonoids are an important family of molecules that have been widely studied. In this work, we analyze the effect of the natural flavonoid Xantomicrol (XML) isolated from Baccharis scandens, on the growth of T. cruzi epimastigotes (strain Dm28c). XML showed an antiproliferative effect on epimastigotes, even at low concentrations. This effect was irreversible, but a minimum exposure of 6 h to the compound was necessary. XML affects the mitochondrial activity of the parasites, at all theconcentrations tested (1, 5 and 10 μg/ml). Changes in ROS levels were observed with the treatment. When we analyze theultrastructure of the parasites, we observed a disorganization of the cytoplasm and an increase in cytoplasmic vacuolization. Also, thepresence of structures that appear to be like "membrane blisters" is highlighted. From these results it is necessary to identify themolecular targets of the parasites for the action of this compound and to determine if XML can affect the life cycle of T cruzi.