Inhibition of Trypanosoma cruzi growth by medical plant extracts

doi:10.1016/S0367-326X(02)00246-0

Fitoterapia

Volume 73, Issues 7–8, December 2002, Pages 569-575

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0367-326X(02)00246-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

This study describes the screening of extracts obtained from 18 plants and two fungi used in the Chinese and Mediterranean traditional medicines on epimastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi. The extracts were tested against epimastigote of T. cruzi Bra C15C2 clone in vitro at 27 °C and at a concentration of 250 μg/ml in axenic culture. Angelica dahurica, A. pubescens, A. sinensis, Astragalus membranaceus, Coptis chinensis, Haplophyllum hispanicum, Phellodendron amurense, Poria cocos, Ranunculus sceleratus and Scutellaria baicalensis showed significant effects against the parasite with a percentage of growth inhibition between 20 and 100%. C. chinensis and R. sceleratus showed the greatest activity with IC₅₀ values of 1.7 μg/ml for C. chinensis and 10.7 μg/ml for R. sceleratus. These activities are greater than that of allopurinol. C. chinesis and R. sceleratus extracts did not show cytotoxic effects on rat polimorphonuclear cells using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide and lactic dehydrogenase assays. These results allowed us to suggest that R. sceleratus and C. chinensis could be a source of new compounds clinically active against T. cruzi.

Introduction

Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, that affects approximately 20 million people from Southern California to Argentina and Chile [1] and this is, after malaria, the most prevalent vector-borne illness in Latin America.

All the drugs recommended for the treatment of Chagas disease have serious limitations including limited effectiveness and important drug-related side effects. There are some drugs of promise for the treatment of this disease [2], [3] but the absence of compounds with a selective cytotoxic activity against the parasite makes the search for new compounds an urgent priority.

One of the approaches of the antiparasitic chemotherapy relies on testing the biological activity of natural products [4], [5].

Extracts derived particularly from plants offer novel possibilities to obtain new compounds active against T. cruzi. In the course of a screening program for potential antiprotozoal drugs, we assessed the effect of extracts obtained from 18 plants and two fungi which are used in traditional medicine in China and the Mediterranean area, against epimastigotes of T. cruzi in axenic cultures.

Section snippets

Plant material

The botanical species assayed are detailed in Table 1. Ranunculus sceleratus, Scrophularia auriculata, Inula viscosa, Helichrysum italicum and Haplophyllum hispanicum were collected at Pinedo, Riola, Torrent, Chiva and El Vedat de Torrent (Valencia, Spain), respectively. Specimens of these plants were deposited in the herbarium of the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Valencia. The rest of the species were commercial samples obtained from Asia Natural Products S.A.

Results and discussion

In this work, we assessed the anti-trypanosomal activity of extracts obtained from plants and fungus commonly used in the Chinese and Mediterranean medicines. The species were tested against epimastigotes of T. cruzi in axenic cultures. Although the model used neglects the different sensitivity of the other stages of T. cruzi, it is very useful to identify active compounds against the parasite [4].

The anti-trypanosomal activities of the different extracts are summarised in Table 2. When tested

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Health of the Province of Buenos Aires and FEMEBA Foundation. We thank Asia Natural Products Co. for supplying some samples. The authors are grateful to Marı́a C. Abel for the language revision of the manuscript.

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Inhibition of Trypanosoma cruzi growth by medical plant extracts

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Plant material

Results and discussion

Acknowledgments

J Immunol Methods

Fitoterapia

Life Sci

Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz

Medicina (Buenos Aires)

Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz

Planta Med