In Vitro antileishmania activity of sesquiterpene-rich essential oils from Nectandra species

Figures & data

Table 1. Collection and extraction of essential oils from Nectandra spp.

Species (Abbreviation)	Identification of collect	Plant part	Yield %
N. amazonum (NAEO)	G.A. Damasceno-Junior 5296	Leaves	0.044%
N. gardneri (NGEO)	Alves, F.M. 597	Stem bark	0.032%
N. hihua (NHEO)	Alves, F.M. 599	Leaves	0.121%
N. megapotamica - 1 (NMEO1)	Alves, F.M. 601	Stem bark	0.153%
N. megapotamica - 2 (NMEO2)	Alves, F.M. 598	Stem bark	0.670%

Table 2. Effect of essential oils from Nectandra spp. on Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum and L. (L.) amazonensis intracellular amastigotes, cytotoxicity on mammalian cells, and selectivity index.

	L. infantum amastigotes	L. amazonensis amastigotes	NIH/3T3 cells		J774.A1 cells
Test-sample	IC50 (μg/mL)^a	IC50 (μg/mL)	IC50 (μg/mL)^a	SI^b	IC50 (μg/mL)^a	SI^b
N. amazonum	31.9 ± 2.0	22.1 ± 1.3	58.0 ± 2.6	1.8/2.6	29.4 ± 1.5	0.9/1.3
N. gardneri	2.7 ± 1.3	2.1 ± 1.06	51.6 ± 5.4	19.5/25.0	29.9 ± 0.9	11.3/14.6
N. hihua	0.2 ± 1.1	24.2 ± 1.2	54.9 ± 6.1	249.4/2.3	29.8 ± 2.0	149.0/1.2
N. megapotamica (1)	>50.0 ± 1.3	19.0 ± 1.3	162.3 ± 12.7	–/8.6	221.6 ± 18.0	–/11.7
N. megapotamica (2)	12.5 ± 1.4	21.3 ± 1.2	252.6 ± 8.0	20.2/11.9	415.6 ± 50.0	33.2/19.5
Amphotericin B	0.3 ± 1.1	0.2 ± 1.1	2.2 ± 0.1	6.6/12.2	4.3 ± 0.9	14.3/21.5

^a IC₅₀: concentration that inhibits 50% of intracellular amastigotes/cellular growth.

^b SI: selectivity index: IC₅₀ on mammalian cells/IC₅₀ on intracellular amastigotes.

The data are representative of three independent experiments.

Table 3. Chemical composition (%) of essential oils from Nectandra spp.

N.	Compound class	N. amazonum	N. gardneri	N. hihua	N. megapotamica 1	N. megapotamica 2
	Monoterpenes (%)	0.0	0.0	0.0	13.9	0.0
1	Azulene				0.1
2	Camphene				0.3
3	Terpinene-4-ol				0.1
4	α-Limonene				0.9
5	α-Pinene				8.5
6	β-Myrcene				0.4
7	β-Pinene				3.6
	Sesquiterpenes (%)	90.1	85.4	89.0	19.1	49.9
8	Agarospirol		4.0			0.7
9	Alloaromadendrene			1.5
10	Aromadendrene	3.6
11	Bergamotene					0.7
12	Bicycloelemene			1.4
13	Bicyclogermacrene			28.1
14	β-Caryophyllene	28.5		9.0
15	Cedren-3-ol					1.9
16	Cubenol		0.63		2.2	1.4
17	Cyclosativene				0.2
18	Eremophilene		2.1	1.4
19	Germacrene B	14.8		3.0
20	Germacrene D	2.2	3.5	13.8	0.7	0.8
21	Germacrene-D-4-ol					0.5
22	Guaiene	2.4
23	Guaiol		0.9
24	Humulene epoxide II				0.3
25	Intermediol	16.2	58.2
26	Rosifoliol	0.6		1.2
27	Sabinene				0.4
28	Selinene	3.8
29	Spathulenol	0.9	0.6	6.0	0.5
30	Viridiflorol	0.5	0.8	4.2		2.6
31	Cis-Ocimene				4.0
32	trans-Caryophyllene				1.4	0.7
33	trans-Ocimene				0.6
34	α-Amorphene		8.0			2.0
35	α-Bulnesene					0.2
36	α-Cadinol			0.6	2.1	14.4
37	α-Copaene				0.7	1.3
38	α-Elemol		1.3			0.2
39	α-Gurjunene			0.9
40	α-Humulene	4.7		2.0	0.6	2.0
41	α-Santalene					2.0
42	α-Ylangene	0.6		0.9
43	β-Elemene		0.4	3.0	0.7	1.0
44	α-Cadinene	3.6	0.5		0.8	0.4
45	α-Elemene		3.5	1.6		0.5
46	γ-Muurolene				2.6	0.8
47	α-Amosphene			0.8
48	δ-Cadinene	4.2	0.95	2.6		5.8
49	δ-Cadinol	3.5				1.7
50	τ-Cadinol					8.1
51	9-epi-(E)-caryophyllene			7.0	1.3
	Phenylpropanoids (%)	0.0	0.0	0.0	61.4	42.3
52	Elemicin				41.7	0.1
53	E-asarone				19.7	42.4
54	Unknown	0.0	10.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
55	Unknown	0.0	0.0	1.2	0.0	0.0
	Total	90.1	95.4	90.2	94.4	92.2

Figure 1. Effect of essential oils from Nectandra amazonum, N. gardneri, N. hihua and N. megapotamica on NO production by peritoneal macrophages infected with Leishmania amazonensis (a) and L. infantum (b) amastigotes. Bars represent the mean ± SD of six replicates. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 for the different concentrations versus untreated cells (control) (Student’s t test). The data are representative of three independent experiments.