Trypanocidal Trixikingolides From Trixis Vauthieri

Abstract

Chagas disease is an illness caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Only two drugs are available, with the drawback of low rate of cure in the chronic phase of the disease and undesirable side effects. These facts highlight the need to find new compounds for Chagas disease chemotherapy. We describe the isolation and identification of an inseparable mixture of two new trixikingolides from Trixis vauthieri, a plant from family Asteraceae, which present outstanding in vitro trypanocidal activity, with IC₅₀ value of 0.053 µM against the intracellular trypomastigotes and amastigotes forms of T. cruzi infecting L929 cells. The IC₅₀ of the mixture against the host cells is 68 times higher and about 70 times more potent than benznidazole, the reference drug used as control at the experiments. The next step, which depends on obtaining larger quantities of the mixture, is to test it on mice infected with T. cruzi.

Graphical Abstract

Key words:

• Chagas disease
• Trypanosoma cruzi
• Natural Products
• Compounds
• Treatment

Acknowledgements

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior-Brasil (CAPES)-Finance Code 001. The authors thank Dr Marcos Sobral for plant collection and identification, the Program for Technological Development of Tools for Health-PDTIS-Fiocruz for use of its facilities (Bioprospection, Chagas Disease-PlaBio Tc and Analytical Methods Technological Platforms). PASJ is research fellow supported by Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências da Saúde, Fiocruz Minas (CAPES/PNPD).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.