Abstract
BackgroundLeishmaniasis is an infectious disease caused by various species of the protozoan parasites of the Leishmania genus and transmitted by phlebotomine sandflies. The protozoa multiply in phagocytic cells, mainly macrophages, which play an important role defending the organism from pathogens. The most effective treatment for leishmaniasis is the chemotherapy and besides the high cost, these drugs are toxic and require a long period of treatment. Currently, some herbal products are considered an important alternative source of a new leishmanicidal agent, which includes the plant Physalis angulata, . We evaluated effects of an aqueous extract from roots of Physalis angulata (AEPa) on Leishmania proliferation, morphology and also determined whether physalins were present in the extract contributing to the knowledge of its pharmacological efficacy.MethodsMorphological alterations were determined by light microscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy. Host cell viability was evaluated by MTT, and propidium iodide. AEPa were submitted in full HRESITOF analysis.ResultsAEPa promoted a dose-dependent reduction on promastigotes (IC50 = 39.5 μg/mL ± 5.1) and amastigotes (IC50 = 43.4 μg/mL ± 10.1) growth. This growth inhibition was associated with several morphological alterations observed in promastigote forms. No cytotoxic effect in mammalian cells was detected (IC50 > 4000 μg/mL). Furthemore, the presence of physalins A, B, D, E, F, G and H were described, for the first time, in the P. angulata root.ConclusionsResults demonstrate that AEPa effectively promotes antileishmanial activity with several important morphological alterations and has no cytotoxic effects on host cells.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12906-015-0717-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease caused by various species of the protozoan parasites of the Leishmania genus and transmitted by phlebotomine sandflies
Extraction process were carried out according to the method described by Bastos et al [11] and 1.0 mg/mL of aqueous extract from root of Physalis angulata (AEPa) was dissolved in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM) or RPMI and used as the standard solution for assays
We identified the physalins A, B, D, E, F, G and H (Table 1)
Summary
Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease caused by various species of the protozoan parasites of the Leishmania genus and transmitted by phlebotomine sandflies. It is estimated that 2 million cases occur worldwide, including more than 22.000 cases in Brazil, Chemotherapy is the only effective treatment for this disease It is expensive and usually requires a long-term invasive and toxic intervention. Studies have demonstrated that a number of plant-derived chemical compounds may act as new therapeutic tools against Leishmania [4,5,6]. One of these agents is Physalis angulata (Solanaceae), a plant distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, including da Silva et al BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2015) 15:249. No study has assessed whether extracts from P. angulata’s root affect Leishmania parasites, the main host cell (macrophage), or determined the presence of physalins in the root extract
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