In vitro trypanocidal activity of samples obtained from natural sources

• Grant number: 13/14275-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2013
• End date: August 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology
• Principal Investigator: Daniele da Silva Ferreira
• Grantee: Maria Gabriela Marçal
• Host Institution: Reitoria. Universidade de Franca (UNIFRAN). Franca , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Nowadays Chagas disease is a problem of public health, which affects a large number of people, especially in Latin America. The available therapy is not effective, since the available drugs are active only in the acute phase of the disease and have serious side effects. The natural products are a rich source of substances with activity against Trypanosoma cruzi, which makes the research on natural products one of the most promising directions on the way of finding drugs efficient enough to work on prevention and treatment of the disease. The triterpenoids betulinic acid and uvaol, selected for this work, have numerous biological activities described in the literature as antimalarial, anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic, antileishmanial, and antioxidant, thus arousing the interest of researchers. The main objective of the project is to evaluate the in vitro antiparasitic activity of the selected samples, betulinic acid and uvaol, on trypomastigotes and amastigotes forms of the Y strain from Trypanosoma cruzi.