Macroporous resin for obtaining active principles on a semi-industrial scale (life cycle) from agro-industrial residue of agave sisalana (sisal) applied in neglected diseases

• Grant number: 23/17149-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: June 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Agreement: CONFAP - National Council of State Research Support Foundations
• Principal Investigator: João Henrique Ghilardi Lago
• Grantee: João Henrique Ghilardi Lago
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas (CCNH). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: André Gustavo Tempone Cardoso ; Josué de Moraes

Abstract

Bahia is the main sisal producer in the world, accounting for approximately 90% of Brazil's production. Of this amount (around 140 thousand tons of sisal fibers per year), around 50% are exported to Asia, Europe and, mainly, Central America. However, after the fiber extraction and processing process, around 95% of the total mass of the raw material is classified as waste. Research carried out at the Phytochemistry Laboratory of the State University of Feira de Santana since 2004 shows that sisal waste produced in Bahia contains several special metabolites that are of interest to the chemical-pharmaceutical industry, as long as they have an effective, cheap and economically viable purification strategy. . Among the substances described in the agro-industrial residue of Agave sisalana by our group, carbohydrates (mannitol and derivatives), steroids, saponins, phenolic glycosides, flavonoids, among others, stand out, which were obtained by classical phytochemical methods that are unfeasible to obtain of these compounds on a large scale. Inserted in this context, the objective of this project is to investigate the production of these compounds on an industrial scale using mainly self-fermentation as a "clean up" process (consumption of carbohydrates by fungi and bacteria native to sisal) and the technique of concentrating active ingredients through elution of the fermented product in macroporous resins. These processes will be controlled through "life cycle" studies, always aiming at the economy and effectiveness of the processes. Furthermore, with the aim of adding value to the products thus obtained, the aim of this project is to submit extracts, fractions and pure substances to evaluation of their pharmacological potential, especially against protozoa that cause Neglected Tropical Diseases (leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and schistosomiasis), which affect a significant portion of the Brazilian population and whose available chemotherapy drugs are ineffective. Thus, this proposal has a double objective, that is, to amplify the production of metabolites present in sisal waste as well as to add value to sisal culture through the evaluation of pharmacological potential, including in vivo (pre-clinical study). (AU)