Cytotoxic, trypanocidal, and antifungal activities of Eugenia jambolana L

J Med Food. 2012 Jan;15(1):66-70. doi: 10.1089/jmf.2010.0298. Epub 2011 Aug 30.

Abstract

Chagas' disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, is considered a public health problem. Nowadays, chemotherapy is the only available treatment for this disease, and the drugs currently used, nifurtimox and benzonidazole, present high toxicity levels. Alternatives for replacing these drugs are natural extracts from Eugenia jambolana, a plant used in traditional medicine because of its antimicrobial and biological activities. An ethanol extract from E. jambolana was prepared. To research in vitro anti-epimastigote activity, T. cruzi CL-B5 clone was used. Epimastigotes were inoculated at a concentration of 1×10(5)/mL in 200 μL of tryptose-liver infusion. For the cytotoxicity assay J774 macrophages were used. To examine antifungal activity, Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, and Candida krusei were used. This is the first record of trypanocide activity for E. jambolana. The effective concentration capable of killing 50% of the parasites was 56.42 μg/mL. The minimum inhibitory concentration was ≤1,024 μg/mL. Metronidazole showed a potentiation of its antifungal effect when combined with the ethanol extract of E. jambolana. Thus our results indicate that E. jambolana could be a source of plant-derived natural products with anti-epimastigote and antifungal modifying activity with moderate toxicity.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antifungal Agents / pharmacology
  • Antifungal Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Candida / drug effects*
  • Chagas Disease / drug therapy*
  • Chagas Disease / microbiology
  • Cytotoxins / pharmacology
  • Inhibitory Concentration 50
  • Macrophages / drug effects
  • Metronidazole / pharmacology
  • Mice
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Plant Extracts / adverse effects
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology*
  • Plant Extracts / therapeutic use
  • Plant Leaves
  • Syzygium* / adverse effects
  • Trypanocidal Agents / pharmacology*
  • Trypanocidal Agents / therapeutic use
  • Trypanosoma cruzi / drug effects*

Substances

  • Antifungal Agents
  • Cytotoxins
  • Plant Extracts
  • Trypanocidal Agents
  • Metronidazole