CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Thrombotic events are the major causes of morbidity and mortalityworldwide, with venous thromboembolism, heart attack and strokesbeing responsible for one in every four deaths [1]. Effective antithrombotictherapy has long been the basis of treatment for venous/arterialthromboembolic events and has reduced mortality rates from30% to 3-8%. Currently, there are many antithrombotic agents that canselectively interrupt pathological thrombin generation and the exaggeratedplatelet response, thus preventing the consequent thrombosis[2].Plants are abundant sources of novel bioactive compounds and, inparticular, flavonoids, a large group of naturally occurring compoundsisolated from certain plants, have been found to inhibit thrombus formation.This effect is most evident in compounds that contain a quercetinbackbone. Flaveria bidentis (L.) Kuntze, among others, biosynthesizesquercetin 3,7,3?,4?-tetrasulfate isolated (QTS) and quercetinquercetin 3-acetyl-7,3?,4?-trisulfate (ATS), the quercetin derivativeswith the highest degree of sulfation known so far [3]. Preliminarystudies in our laboratory showed that QTS, and to a lesser extent ATS,possess important anticoagulant, antiplatelet and profibrinolytic activities