Effect of treatment with (-)-cubebin and (-)-hinokinin in the development of the inflammatory process in experimental Chagas' Disease

• Grant number: 13/13739-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2013
• End date: July 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology
• Principal Investigator: Viviane Rodrigues Esperandim
• Grantee: Ana Luiza Ferreira Carvalho
• Host Institution: Reitoria. Universidade de Franca (UNIFRAN). Franca , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Chagas disease presents nowadays a problem of public health, which affects a large part of the population, especially in Latin America. The treatment of Chagas disease is more effective in the acute phase but during the indeterminate and chronic stages, the treatment does not always produce the complete eradication of the parasite. In addition, the drugs currently used produce various adverse effects that could affect the therapy and must still be taken into account that there are different levels of susceptibility and different strains of parasites. Thus, we see the importance of the study of new drugs for the treatment of disease. The aim of this this study is to evaluate the effect of treatment with (-)-cubebin and (-)-hinokinin in experimental Chagas' disease, since the medicament used to treat known toxicity, and has limited effect for different isolates of the parasite and stages of disease. In recent years our research group has been conducting studies with (-) - cubebin and (-)-and these has shown significant trypanocidal activity. Thus, the present study aims to analyze the influence that treatment with these substances can have in the installation of the inflammatory process, through the histological slides for observation and quantification of nitric oxide after treatment of animals. (AU)