CHEMICAL STUDY AND EVALUATION OF THE ANTIPARASITIC ACTIVITY OF MICONIA MACROTHYRSA (MELASTOMATACEAE).

Abstract

Introduction: Natural products have been used since ancient times. The search for relief and cure of diseases by the ingestion of herbs and leaves may have been one of the first ways of using natural products. The Chemistry of Natural Products represents, within the area of research with plant species, a point of great importance and value, since only through the use of phytochemical methods can isolate new substances, obtain the correct structural determination of these and, thereafter obtaining derivatives by total or partial synthesis. Molecular biology and new genetic techniques allowed the isolation and purification of many enzymes, receptors directly associated with pathological processes, representing authentic molecular targets for new drugs. Most of the drugs available in modern therapy are synthesized, but many of them have been originally extracted from plants or used a prototype which, in turn, has also been extracted from plants. Purpose: The present project aims the preparation of crude extract of the plant species Miconia macrothyrsa , collected in cerrado region. The crude extract and fractions will be evaluated in vitro against to the parasites that cause leishmaniasis ( Leishmania amazonensis ), schistosomiasis ( Schistosoma mansoni ) and Chagas' disease ( Trypanosoma cruzi ), thus obtaining promising fractions for later fractionation and isolation of major constituents, aiming at obtaining of possible active compounds.