Antileishmanial activity of the essential oils of Myrcia ovata Cambess. and Eremanthus erythropappus (DC) McLeisch leads to parasite mitochondrial damage

Abstract

Leishmania amazonensis is a species causative of cutaneous and anergic diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis, treatment-resistant form, in the New World. Plants essential oils exhibit great potential as microbicide agents. We described the composition of the essential oils of two plants native from Brazil, Myrcia ovata, with geranial and neral as major constituents, and Eremanthus erythropappus, with α-bisabolol. In vitro effects of these essential oils on L. amazonensis promastigotes growth and ultrastructure were analysed as well as their cytotoxicity to murine macrophages. Both oils were highly active with IC₅₀/96 h of 8.69 and 9.53 µg/mL for M. ovata and E. erythropappus against promastigotes and caused ultrastructural alterations including mitochondrial enlargement. Cytotoxicity for murine macrophages varied with the oil concentrations. The IC₅₀ low values of both M. ovata and E. erythropappus oils against L. amazonensis and their relative low cytotoxicity to mammal host cells support their potential use against cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Keywords:

• Leishmania amazonensis
• promastigote forms
• essential oils
• Myrcia ovata
• Eremanthus erythropappus
• chemotherapy

Acknowledgments

To Professors Lucia Helena Pinto-da-Silva, Debora Decote Ricardo de Lima and Maria das Graças Miranda Danelli of Laboratório de Imunologia e Virologia Veterinária (Instituto de Veterinária/UFRRJ) for making their laboratory facilities available for some experiments. Financial support by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ).

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.