RESUMEN
Praziquantel is the drug of choice for the treatment of schistosomiasis. However, several strains of Schistosoma mansoni are resistant to praziquantel, making it necessary to discover new drugs that might be used for its treatment. With this in mind, the properties of a schistosomicidal ethanolic extract of Garcinia brasiliensis Mart. epicarp, the fractions obtained by partitioning this extract, including the hexane fractions, ethyl acetate fraction, and the aqueous fraction, and the isolated compounds 7-epiclusianone, a major component from these fractions, and fukugetin were tested in vitro on adult worms of S. mansoni. Mortality, damage to membranes, and excretory system activity were observed at 100.0, 50.0, 75.0, and 14.0 µg/mL for the ethanolic extract of G. brasiliensis Mart. epicarp, its hexane fractions, the ethyl acetate fraction, and 7-epiclusianone, respectively. For 7-epiclusianone, these data were confirmed by fluorescent probe Hoechst 33â258 and resorufin. Additionally, the biocidal effect of 7-epiclusianone was even higher than the hexane fractions. Moreover, an inhibitory effect of 7-epiclusianone on the egg laying of female adult S. mansoni worms was observed in cercariae and schistossomula. Thus, 7-epiclusianone is a promising schistosomicidal compound; however, more studies are needed to elucidate its mechanism of toxicity and to evaluate the in vivo activity of this compound.
Asunto(s)
Benzofenonas/farmacología , Benzoquinonas/farmacología , Garcinia/química , Schistosoma mansoni/efectos de los fármacos , Esquistosomiasis/tratamiento farmacológico , Esquistosomicidas/farmacología , Animales , Benzofenonas/química , Benzofenonas/aislamiento & purificación , Benzoquinonas/química , Benzoquinonas/aislamiento & purificación , Biflavonoides/farmacología , Femenino , Masculino , Estructura Molecular , Extractos Vegetales/química , Extractos Vegetales/aislamiento & purificación , Extractos Vegetales/farmacología , Esquistosomicidas/química , Esquistosomicidas/aislamiento & purificaciónRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Current available methods for diagnosis of schistosomiasis mansoni lack sufficient sensitivity, which results in underreporting of infectious in areas of low endemicity. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We developed three novel diagnostic methodologies for the direct detection of schistosome infection in serum samples. These three new methods were evaluated with positive patients from a low endemicity area in southeast Brazil. The basis of the assay was the production of monoclonal antibodies against the protein backbone of heavily glycosylated Circulating Cathodic Antigen (CCA). The antibodies were also selected for having no specificity to repeating poly-Lewis x units. Assays based on the detection CCA-protein should not encounter a limitation in sensitivity due to a biological background of this particular epitope. Three diagnostic methodologies were developed and validated, (i) Immunomagnetic Separation based on improved incubation steps of non-diluted serum, (ii) Direct Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay and (iii) Fluorescent Microscopy Analysis as a qualitative assay. The two quantitative assays presented high sensitivity (94% and 92%, respectively) and specificity (100%), equivalent to the analysis of 3 stool samples and 16 slides by Kato-Katz, showing promising results on the determination of cure. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The Immunomagnetic Separation technique showed excellent correlation with parasite burden by Cohen coefficient. The qualitative method detected 47 positive individuals out of 50 with the analysis of 3 slides. This easy-to-do method was capable of discriminating positive from negative cases, even for patients with low parasite burden.
Asunto(s)
Anticuerpos Antihelmínticos/química , Anticuerpos Monoclonales/química , Antígenos Helmínticos/sangre , Glicoproteínas/sangre , Proteínas del Helminto/sangre , Schistosoma mansoni , Esquistosomiasis mansoni/sangre , Adulto , Anciano , Animales , Anticuerpos Antihelmínticos/inmunología , Anticuerpos Monoclonales/inmunología , Antígenos Helmínticos/inmunología , Femenino , Glicoproteínas/inmunología , Proteínas del Helminto/inmunología , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Esquistosomiasis mansoni/inmunologíaRESUMEN
Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease that is highly prevalent, especially in developing countries. Biomphalaria tenagophila is an important invertebrate host of Schistosoma mansoni in Brazil, with some strains (e.g. Cabo Frio) being highly susceptible to the parasite, whereas others (e.g. Taim) are completely resistant to infection. Therefore, B. tenagophila is an important research model for studying immune defense mechanisms against S. mansoni. The internal defense system (IDS) of the snail comprises hemocytes and hemolymph factors acting together to recognize self from non-self molecular patterns to eliminate the threat of infection. We performed experiments to understand the cellular defenses related to the resistance and/or susceptibility of B. tenagophila to S. mansoni. During the early stages of infection, fibrous host cells of both snail strains were arranged as a thin layer surrounding the sporocysts. However, at later stages of infection, the cellular reactions in resistant snails were increasingly more intense, with thicker layers surrounding the parasites, in contrast to susceptible strains. All parasites were damaged or destroyed inside resistant snails after 10 h of infection. By contrast, parasites inside susceptible snails appeared to be morphologically healthy. We also performed experiments using isolated hemocytes from the two strains interacting with sporocysts. Hemocyte attachment started as early as 1 h after initial infection in both strains, but the killing of sporocysts was exclusive to hemocytes from the resistant strain and was time course dependent. The resistant strain was able to kill all sporocysts. In conclusion, our study revealed important aspects of the initial process of infection related to immune defense responses of strains of B. tenagophila that were resistant to S. mansoni compared with strains that were susceptible. Such information is relevant for the survival or death of the parasites and so is important in the development of control measures against this parasite.
Asunto(s)
Biomphalaria/fisiología , Biomphalaria/parasitología , Hemocitos/parasitología , Oocistos/parasitología , Schistosoma mansoni/fisiología , Esquistosomiasis mansoni/parasitología , Animales , Brasil , Interacciones Huésped-Parásitos/fisiología , Sistema Inmunológico , Técnicas In Vitro , Microscopía Confocal/métodos , Microscopía Fluorescente/métodos , Schistosoma mansoni/metabolismo , Factores de TiempoRESUMEN
Worldwide Schistosomiasis mansoni continues to be a serious public health problem. Over the past decades, control programmes have made remarkable progress in reducing S. mansoni infections to a relatively low level in Brazil and African countries. Endemic regions are currently circumscribed in certain core areas where reinfection and repeated chemotherapy are frequent and, consequently, are related to residents with low parasite load. At present, diagnosis is predominately a key step for final disease control although low endemicity area residents are hardly detected by most of the available assays. In this paper, we review the current status and efforts made aiming at the improvement of diagnostic tools for S. mansoni in low endemicity infections. The establishment of diagnostic assays--simple, affordable, sensitive, and specific for field diagnosis of S. mansoni--is essential and should be given high priority.
Asunto(s)
Antígenos Helmínticos/sangre , Esquistosomiasis mansoni/diagnóstico , Enfermedades Endémicas , Humanos , Pruebas Inmunológicas/métodos , Esquistosomiasis mansoni/epidemiología , Esquistosomiasis mansoni/prevención & control , Sensibilidad y EspecificidadRESUMEN
The aim of this article included the development and evaluation of the capacity of nanoemulsions to improve the activity of the novel schistosomicidal drug-2-(butylamino)-1-phenyl-1-ethanethiosulfuric acid (BphEA). BphEA is a compound with a poor solubility in water, which makes its application as a drug difficult. Nanoemulsion formulations presenting anionic (NANOSTOA, NANOST and NANOLP) and cationic (NANOSTE) interfacial charges were prepared to encapsulate BphEA. These formulations were characterized by the encapsulation rate, diameter, and zeta potential. NANOSTOA, NANOST, and NANOLP presented an entrapment efficiency and zeta potential of 18.7+/-1.8% and -33.6+/-1.2 mV; 20.5+/-3.0% and -31.5+/-5.7 mV; as well as 33.8+/-7.2% and -62.6+/-1.3 mV, respectively. NANOSTE presented an entrapment efficiency of 51.8+/-5.0% and a zeta potential of 25.7+/-3.9 mV. The mean droplet size (between 200 and 252 nm) and polydispersity index (between 0.158 and 0.294) were similar for all formulations. The stability study showed no alteration in these formulations' zeta potential and size. The in vitro schistosomicidal activity of BphEA was higher with the use of NANOSTE than with free BphEA. In addition, release studies revealed a good stability of NANOSTE containing BphEA in a biological medium. These results indicate that cationic nanoemulsions can represent an interesting delivery system for the pharmaceutical formulation of BphEA.