NOVEL NATURAL COMPOUNDS OBTAINED FROM NATIVE PLANTS INHIBIT THE IN VITRO GROWTH OF Trypanosoma cruzi

SPINA, R; DONADEL O. J.; LOZANO, E.; TONN, C. E.; SOSA, M. A.; RETA, G.F.

Mendoza

Congreso; XXXI Anual Meeting, Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2013

Trypanosoma cruzi is a monoflagellate parasite that causes theChagas disease. At present, Chagas disease is treated withnitroheterocyclic derivatives such as benznidazole (BZN) andnifurtimox although their use require long treatment courses,and they are not effective in the late-stage disease, and presentmany side effects. Then, it is important to test synthetic drugsand natural compounds presenting anti-trypanocidal activity, inconnection with specific biological features of the parasite thatcould be used as specific targets for their pharmacologicalcontrol. In this study, we tested several novel naturalcompounds, obtained from native plants, on the in-vitro growthof T. cruzi (strain Dm28c). Among the tested compounds sixderivatives of grindelic acid strongly inhibit the growth of T.cruzi from concentrations of 5 μg/ml and seem to be more activethan BZN.48 hours after incubation with our compounds themost low 50% inhibitory concentration against epimastigoteswas 0.15 µg/ml. However, most of parasites remain viable(eosin exclusion test), indicating a cytostatic effect under theseexperimental conditions. It remains to determine whether thesecompounds are cytotoxic on mammalian cells, and to identifymolecular targets on parasites. We conclude that screening ofnovel natural compounds remains valid for the search ofmolecules against Chagas disease.