In vitro evaluation of alkaline lignins as antiparasitic agents and their use as an excipient in the release of benznidazole

Iranildo José da Cruz Filho, Denise Maria Figueiredo Araujo Duarte, Douglas da Conceição Alves de Lima, Diego Santa Clara Marques, Fábio André Brayner Dos Santos, Luiz Carlos Alves, André de Lima Aires, Fátima Nogueira, Maria do Carmo Alves de Lima

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3 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

The Amazon rainforest is considered the largest tropical timber reserve in the world. The management of native forests in the Amazon is one of the most sensitive geopolitical issues today, given its national and international dimension. In this work, we obtained and characterized physicochemical lignins extracted from branches and leaves of Protium puncticulatum and Scleronema micranthum. In addition, we evaluated in vitro its potential as an antioxidant, cytotoxic agent against animal cells and antiparasitic against promastigotes of Leishmania amazonensis, trypomastigotes of T. cruzi and against Plasmodium falciparum parasites sensitive and resistant to chloroquine. The results showed that the lignins obtained are of the GSH type and have higher levels of guaiacyl units. However, they show structural differences as shown by spectroscopic analysis and radar charts. As for biological activities, they showed antioxidant potential and low cytotoxicity against animal cells. Antileishmanial/trypanocidal assays have shown that lignins can inhibit the growth of promastigotes and trypomastigotes in vitro. The lignins in this study showed low anti-Plasmodium falciparum activity against susceptible strains of Plasmodium falciparum and were able to inhibit the growth of the chloroquine-resistant strain. And were not able to inhibit the growth of Schistosoma mansoni parasites. Finally, lignins proved to be promising excipients in the release of benznidazole. These findings show the potential of these lignins not yet studied to promote different biological activities.

Original languageEnglish
Article number123339
Pages (from-to)123339
Number of pages21
JournalInternational Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Volume231
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Mar 2023

Keywords

  • Animals
  • Antiparasitic Agents/therapeutic use
  • Lignin/therapeutic use
  • Excipients
  • Antioxidants/therapeutic use
  • Trypanosoma cruzi
  • Chagas Disease/drug therapy
  • Chloroquine

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