Evaluation of in vitro antileishmanial activity of lignans extracted from Piper cubeba

• Grant number: 19/24413-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2020
• End date: February 28, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology - Protozoology of Parasites
• Principal Investigator: Flávia Cristina Rodrigues Lisoni
• Grantee: Nathália Frigo de Almeida Paula
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is a chronic disease caused by intracellular protozoa of the genus Leishmania, family Trypanosomatidae, which infect various mammalian species, including humans. It is considered a neglected disease and its most serious form is visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by Leishmania infantum (L. infantum). Several studies have shown the use of plants in the treatment of leishmaniasis both orally and in the application to skin lesions. Among these studies, Java pepper (Piper cubeba) has been highlighted because its herbal properties are directly related to the presence of lignans (secondary metabolites of the plant), leading to a trypanocidal and leishmanicidal activity. Thus, the present work aims to evaluate the antileishmanial activity of lignans extracted from Piper cubeba on L. infantum promastigotes and also on the amastigotes that have a higher IC50. For this, the promastigote forms will be kept in Medium 199 (Life Technologies), at 25ºC until the 5th passage. The cells will be cultured until they reach the stationary growth phase, when they will be used for the assays of the leishmanicidal activity of the compounds. The treatment will be conducted with different concentrations of the compounds (100 to 0.1 ¼M), for a period of 4, 24, 48 and 72 hours. After this period, cytotoxicity will be analyzed using a colorimetric assay with a cell viability indicator, MTT. The IC50 will be determined by constructing the logDOSE x Biological activity curve using a sigmoidal mathematical model (LogEC50) of non-linear regression. Lignans are expected to have a leishmanicidal effect for L. infantum, since cubebine has already shown this activity for L. donovani, which is a species of the same phenotypic complex as L. infantum. (AU)