RESUMO
Extracts of seven medicinal plants used specifically against cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Madre de Dios region of Peru were evaluated in vitro against promastigote and axenic amastigote forms of Leishmania amazonensis. One of them showed interesting leishmanicidal activities (IC(50)=5 microg/ml in amastigotes). Bio-guided isolation of the stem bark's ethanol extract of Himatanthus sucuuba (Spruce ex Müll. Arg.) Woodson (Apocynaceae) afforded the spirolactone iridoids isoplumericin and plumericin. The latter showed a reduction of macrophage infection similar to that of the reference drug Amphotericin B (IC(50)=0.9 and 1 microM, respectively). These findings validate the traditional use of Himatanthus sucuuba in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (Uta) in Peru.
Assuntos
Antiprotozoários , Apocynaceae/química , Indenos/farmacologia , Iridoides/farmacologia , Leishmania mexicana/efeitos dos fármacos , Espironolactona/farmacologia , Animais , Células 3T3 BALB , Bioensaio , Chlorocebus aethiops , Cristalografia por Raios X , Etnobotânica , Humanos , Técnicas In Vitro , Indígenas Sul-Americanos , Leishmania mexicana/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Macrófagos/efeitos dos fármacos , Macrófagos/parasitologia , Espectroscopia de Ressonância Magnética , Masculino , Medicina Tradicional , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Peru , Extratos Vegetais/química , Extratos Vegetais/farmacologia , Células VeroRESUMO
Lepidium peruvianum root has been traditionally utilized by native Peruvians, since before the time of the Incas, for both nutritional and putative medicinal purposes as an adaptogen and also to enhance fertility in humans and animals. The present research was conducted to evaluate the anti-stress activity of the methanolic extract of Lepidium peruvianum. The drug is capable of attenuating or even eliminating variations in homeostasis produced by stress since it reduces or abolishes stress-induced ulcers, elevated corticosterone levels, the reduction of glucose and the increase in the weight of adrenal glands produced by stress. It also eliminates the decrease in free fatty-acids (FFA) in plasma produced by stress and we obtain a positive result in the forced-swimming test. Thus, it did not appear to affect restraint stress-induced immunosuppression.