Leishmanicidal activity of a supercritical fluid fraction obtained from Tabernaemontana catharinensis.

Full Abstract

The branches and leaves of Tabernaemontana catharinensis were extracted with supercritical fluid using a mixture of CO(2) plus ethanol (SFE), and the indole alkaloid enriched fraction (AF3) was selected for anti-Leishmania activity studies. We found that AF3 exhibits a potent effect against intracellular amastigotes of Leishmania amazonensis, a causative agent of New World cutaneous leishmaniasis. AF3 inhibits Leishmania survival in a dose-dependent manner, and reached 88% inhibition of amastigote growth at 100 microg/mL. The anti-parasite effect was independent of nitric oxide (NO), since AF3 was able to inhibit NO production induced by IFN-gamma plus LPS. In addition, AF3 inhibited TGF-beta production, which could have facilitated AF3-mediated parasite killing. The AF3 fraction obtained from SFE was nontoxic for host macrophages, as assessed by plasma membrane integrity and mitochondrial activity. We conclude that SFE is an efficient method for obtaining bioactive indole alkaloids from plant extracts. Importantly, this method preserved the alkaloid properties associated with inhibition of Leishmania growth in macrophages without toxicity to host cells.

Author information

Author/s: Soares, Deivid Costa (DC); Pereira, Camila G (CG); Meireles, Maria Angela A (MA); Saraiva, Elvira Maria (EM);

Affiliation: Departamento de Imunologia, Instituto de Microbiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 21941-590, Brazil.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Parasitology international (Parasitol Int), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Jun; vol 56 (issue 2) : pp 135-9

Dates: Created 2007/03/12; Completed 2007/06/05;

PMID: 17306614, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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