Effect of Elatol, Isolated from Red Seaweed Laurencia dendroidea, on Leishmania amazonensis

Marine Drugs

Adriana Oliveira dos Santos¹  Phercyles Veiga-Santos⁴  Tânia Ueda-Nakamura⁴  Benedito Prado Dias Filho¹  Daniela Bueno Sudatti²  Éverson Miguel Bianco³  Renato Crespo Pereira² 

[1] Programa de Pós-graduação em Microbiologia, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Rodovia Celso Garcia Cid, PR 445, Km 380, CEP 86051-990, Campus Universitário, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil; E-Mails:;Departamento de Biologia Marinha, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Caixa Postal 100644, CEP 24001-970, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; E-Mails:;Programa de Pós-graduação em Química Orgânica, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Outeiro de São João Baptista, s/n, CEP 24.020-150, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; E-Mail:;Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências Farmacêuticas, Laboratório de Inovação Tecnológica no Desenvolvimento de Fármacos e Cosméticos, Bloco B-08, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Av. Colombo 5790, CEP 87020-900, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil; E-Mails:

关键词: antileishmanial activity;    Leishmania amazonensis;    Laurencia dendroidea;    elatol;   

DOI  :  10.3390/md8112733

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In the present study, we investigated the antileishmanial activity of sesquiterpene elatol, the major constituent of the Brazilian red seaweed Laurencia dendroidea (Hudson) J.V. Lamouroux, against L. amazonensis. Elatol after 72 h of treatment, showed an IC₅₀ of 4.0 μM and 0.45 μM for promastigote and intracellular amastigote forms of L. amazonensis, respectively. By scanning and transmission electron microscopy, parasites treated with elatol revealed notable changes compared with control cells, including: pronounced swelling of the mitochondrion; appearance of concentric membrane structures inside the organelle; destabilization of the plasma membrane; and formation of membrane structures, apparently an extension of the endoplasmic reticulum, which is suggestive of an autophagic process. A cytotoxicity assay showed that the action of the isolated compound is more specific for protozoa, and it is not toxic to macrophages. Our studies indicated that elatol is a potent antiproliferative agent against promastigote and intracellular amastigote forms, and may have important advantages for the development of new anti-leishamanial chemotherapies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2010 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland