Efficacy of some essential oils in mice infected with &lt;i&gt;Trypanosoma cruzi&lt;/i&gt;

Gerson Zanusso Junior,Alexandre T Morey,Ana Paula M Teston,Max Jean O Toledo,Miyoko Massago

doi:10.4314/tjpr.v16i6.14

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of orally administered Cymbopogon citratus , Zingiber officinale and Syzygium aromaticum essential oils (EOs) in mice infected with Trypanosoma cruzi . Methods: Three experiments were conducted with 48 Swiss mice each. The animals were inoculated with 2 x 10 6 metacyclic trypomastigotes of T. Cruzi Y-strain and allocated into the following groups ( N = 12): 1) untreated control; 2) treated with benznidazole (BZ); 3) treated with EO 100 mg/kg; and 4) treated with EO 250 mg/kg. The groups were evaluated by fresh blood test, blood culture, conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real-time PCR and cure rate (CR). Results: All the animals were completely infected with T. cruzi . Treatment with C. citratus and Z. officinale EOs altered some of the parameters derived from the parasitemia curve, but CRs did not differ from BZ. Treatment with S. Aromaticum EO, on the other hand, not only altered all the parameters derived from the parasitemia curve, similar to BZ, but at the dose of 100 mg/kg, CR was also significantly higher than BZ. Conclusion: The results indicate that the essential oils tested, especially S . aromaticum , exhibited anti- Trypanosoma cruzi effect and therefore should be investigated for the treatment of Chagas disease. Keywords: Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi , Cymbopogon citratus , Zingiber officinale , Syzygium aromaticum , Essential oils, Chemotherapy

Highlights

Trypanosoma cruzi is the protozoan parasite responsible for the American Trypanosomiasis, which afflicts about 6 - 7 million people worldwide
Infectivity rate (INF) was 100 % in all experimental groups, i.e., all animals inoculated with T cruzi Y-strain became infected
Our results showed that Conventional polymerase chain reaction (cPCR) in blood presented greater detection capacity of T. cruzi DNA than Qualitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) performed in the cardiac tissue

Summary

Introduction

Trypanosoma cruzi is the protozoan parasite responsible for the American Trypanosomiasis ( known as Chagas disease), which afflicts about 6 - 7 million people worldwide. Once exclusive to the Americas, where it reached endemic status in 21 Latin American countries, Chagas disease is currently considered a globalized disease [1]. A new epidemiological scenario seems to be developing in Brazil as most of the new cases reported (71 %) have been acquired by oral route, especially in non-endemic regions [1,2]. It is the parasitic disease with the greatest impact in the Americas, it is often left untreated due to the shortcomings of currently available therapies. Based on only two drugs, benznidazole and nifurtimox, treatment is long and the drugs are highly toxic and poorly tolerated by patients, and its efficacy is dependent on the phase of infection [1,3,4]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion