OVICIDAL EFFECT OF PIPERACEAE SPECIES ON Biomphalaria glabrata, Schistosoma mansoni HOST

SUMMARY Schistosomiasis is a neglected disease with public health importance in tropical and subtropical regions. An alternative to the disease control is the use of molluscicides to eliminate or reduce the intermediate host snail population causing a reduction of transmission in endemic regions. In this study nine extracts from eight Piperaceae species were evaluated against Biomphalaria glabrata embryos at blastula stage. The extracts were evaluated in concentrations ranging from 100 to 10 mg/L. Piper crassinervium and Piper tuberculatum extracts were the most active (100% of mortality at 20 mg/L and 30 mg/L respectively).RESUMO A esquistossomose é uma doença negligenciada de importância para a saúde pública em regiões tropicais e subtropicais. Uma alternativa para o controle da doença é o uso de moluscicidas para eliminar ou reduzir a população de caramujo hospedeiro, acarretando uma redução da transmissão da doença nas regiões endemicas. Neste estudo, nove extratos vegetais provenientes de oito espécies de Piperaceae foram expostos a embriões de Biomphalaria glabrata no estágio de blástula. Os extratos foram avaliados em concentrações que variaram entre 100 e 10 mg/L, sendo Piper crassinervium e Piper tuberculatum os extratos mais ativos (100% de mortalidade a 20 mg/L e 30 mg/L respectivamente)

Obtention an evaluation of Piper compounds in biological models to schistosomiasis mansoni control.

A esquistossomose é incidente em países tropicais e subtropicais e o uso de moluscicidas é adequado para prevenir a infecção de pessoas. O objetivo deste estudo foi buscar compostos em Piper ativos em Biomphalaria glabrata e avaliar a atividade esquistossomicida e toxicidade do composto mais ativo. O fracionamento biomonitorado de Piper diospyrifolium resultou no isolamento da flavocavaína A e ácido 4-hidroxi-3-[3,7,11-trimetildodeca-2,6,10-trienil]benzoico. A busca de compostos também foi realizada em amidas e chalconas e dos oito compostos avaliados, quatro foram ativos, sendo a piplartina mais ativa. A piplartina não foi letal a miracídios e cercárias de Schistosoma mansoni e foi tóxica em Daphnia similis e Danio rerio, contudo ainda foi menos tóxica que a niclosamida. Neste estudo, os compostos moluscicidas foram obtidos pelo fracionamento biomonitorado de P. diospyrifolium e pela avaliação da atividade de amidas e chalconas. Ambas as metodologias foram adequadas e a análise de componente principal mostrou ser uma ferramenta viável para a busca de compostos.Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease and the use of molluscicides has been considered an appropriate method to prevent human infection. The aim of this study was to search for compounds in Piper active in B. glabrata and evaluate schistosomicidal activity and toxicity of the most active compound. The P. diospyrifolium bioguided fractionation resulted in flavokavain A and 4-hydroxy-3-[3,7,trimetildodeca-11-2,6,10-trienil]benzoic acid isolation. The search for active compounds was carried out in amides and chalcones. Eight compounds were evaluated, four were active and piplartine was the most active. There was no mortality of miracidia and cercariae exposed to piplartine. It was classified as toxic to D. similis and D. rerio; nevertheless was less toxic than niclosamide. In this study, molluscicidal compounds were obtained from bioguided fractionation of P.diospyrifolium and by evaluating the activity of amides and chalcones. Both methods were suitable to obtain active compounds and principal component analysis also proved to be a viable tool for obtain compounds

Natural Products as a Source for Treating Neglected Parasitic Diseases

Infectious diseases caused by parasites are a major threat for the entire mankind, especially in the tropics. More than 1 billion people world-wide are directly exposed to tropical parasites such as the causative agents of trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, which represent a major health problem, particularly in impecunious areas. Unlike most antibiotics, there is no “general” antiparasitic drug available. Here, the selection of antiparasitic drugs varies between different organisms. Some of the currently available drugs are chemically de novo synthesized, however, the majority of drugs are derived from natural sources such as plants which have subsequently been chemically modified to warrant higher potency against these human pathogens. In this review article we will provide an overview of the current status of plant derived pharmaceuticals and their chemical modifications to target parasite-specific peculiarities in order to interfere with their proliferation in the human host

Metabolomic profiling reveals a finely tuned, starvation-induced metabolic switch in Trypanosoma cruziepimastigotes

Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease, is a protozoan parasite with a complex life cycle involving a triatomine insect and mammals. Throughout its life cycle, the T. cruzi parasite faces several alternating events of cell division and cell differentiation in which exponential and stationary growth phases play key biological roles. It is well accepted that arrest of the cell division in the epimastigote stage, both in the midgut of the triatomine insect and in vitro, is required for metacyclogenesis, and it has been previously shown that the parasites change the expression profile of several proteins when entering this quiescent stage. However, little is known about the metabolic changes that epimastigotes undergo before they develop into the metacyclic trypomastigote stage. We applied targeted metabolomics to measure the metabolic intermediates in the most relevant pathways for energy metabolism and oxidative imbalance in exponentially growing and stationary growth-arrested epimastigote parasites. We show for the first time that T. cruzi epimastigotes transitioning from the exponential to the stationary phase exhibit a finely tuned adaptive metabolic mechanism that enables switching from glucose to amino acid consumption, which is more abundant in the stationary phase. This metabolic plasticity appears to be crucial for survival of the T. cruzi parasite in the myriad different environmental conditions to which it is exposed during its life cycle

Toxicity of piplartine and niclosamide to the freshwater microcrustacean <i>D. similis</i> and the fish <i>D. rerio</i>.

<p>Data are presented as EC₅₀ or LC₅₀ (µg/ml) with the respective 95% confidence limits in brackets.</p><p>Toxicity classification: Cat. 1 - acute toxicity ≤1.00 µg/ml; Cat. 2 - acute toxicity >1.00 but ≤10.0 µg/ml; Cat. 3 - acute toxicity >10.0 but <100 µg/ml <a href="http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002251#pntd.0002251-Abiquim1" target="_blank">[28]</a>.</p

Morphological changes in <i>D. rerio</i> during the 48 hours of exposure to piplartine.

<p><b>A</b>) Leakage of the ocular pigment caused by 1.8 ppm piplartine, <b>B</b>) tissue alterations on the head and mouth caused by 1.6 µg/ml piplartine, <b>C</b>) exophthalmia and hemorrhage caused by 1.4 µg/ml piplartine and D) control group.</p

LC₅₀ and LC₉₀ for <i>B. glabrata</i> embryos and adults exposed to piplartine.

<p>[ ] 95% confidence interval.</p><p>nc – not calculated.</p

Mortality of <i>B. glabrata</i> adults and embryos exposed to amides (20 µg/ml).

<p>n = 10 snails for the adult stage; total embryo number for the other stages.</p><p>0^* = negative control (1% DMSO).</p><p>Values were obtained at the end of the 7^th day of observation.</p