title: Brazilian flora extracts as source of novel antileishmanial and antifungal compounds.
abstract: Natural products have long been providing important drug leads for infectious diseases. Leishmaniasis is a protozoan parasitic disease found mainly in developing countries, and it has toxic therapies with few alternatives. Fungal infections have been the main cause of death in immunocompromised patients and new drugs are urgently needed. In this work, a total of 16 plant species belonging to 11 families, selected on an ethnopharmacological basis, were analyzed in vitro against Leishmania (L.) chagasi, Leishmania (L.) amazonensis, Candida krusei, and C. parapsilosis. Of these plant species, seven showed antifungal activity against C. krusei, five showed antileishmanial activity against L. chagasi and four against L. amazonensis, among them species of genus Plectranthus. Our findings confirm the traditional therapeutic use of these plants in the treatment of infectious and inflammatory disorders and also offer insights into the isolation of active and novel drug prototypes, especially those used against neglected diseases as Leishmaniasis.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Toxinologia Aplicada, Serviço de Parasitologia, Instituto Adolfo Lutz, São Paulo, Brasil. atempone@ial.sp.gov.br
authors.forename: André Gustavo
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Tempone
authors.forename: Patrícia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sartorelli
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.forename: Frederico O
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Prado
authors.forename: Ivete A R L
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Calixto
authors.forename: Harri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lorenzi
authors.forename: Márcia S C
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Melhem
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001938:Brazil; D002175:Candida / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D007891:Leishmania / Q000187:drug effects*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000145:classification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts