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Antimalarial potential of leaves of Chenopodium ambrosioides L.

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Abstract

In an effort to identify novel therapeutic alternatives for the treatment of malaria, the present study evaluated the antimalarial effect of the crude hydroalcoholic extract (HCE) from the leaves of Chenopodium ambrosioides L. For this purpose, the molecular affinity between the total proteins from erythrocytes infected with Plasmodium falciparum and HCE or chloroquine was evaluated by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Subsequently, the plasmodicidal potential of HCE was assessed in a P. falciparum culture. Using BALB/c mice infected with Plasmodium berghei intraperitoneally (ip.), we evaluated the effects of ip. treatment, for three consecutive days (day 7, 8, and 9 after infection), with chloroquine (45 mg/kg) or HCE (5 mg/kg), considering the survival index and the parasitaemia. The groups were compared to an untreated control group that receives only PBS at the same periods. The results indicated that HCE could bind to the total proteins of infected erythrocytes and could inhibit the parasite growth in vitro (IC50 = 25.4 g/mL). The in vivo therapeutic treatment with HCE increased the survival and decreased the parasitaemia in the infected animals. Therefore, the HCE treatment exhibited a significant antiplasmodial effect and may be considered as a potential candidate for the development of new antimalarial drugs.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Valnice de Jesus Peres and Dr. Alejandro Miguel Katzin for technical support and to Programa de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico em Insumos para Saúde (PDTIS-FIOCRUZ) for allowing the use of their facilities. The authors also would like to thank the funding agencies Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e ao Desenvovilmento Científico e Tecnológico do Maranhão (FAPEMA), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento em Pesquisa (CNPq), and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). CRFM is enrolled at the Programa Estratégico de Ciência, Tecnologia & Inovação nos Programas de Pós-Graduação do Estado do Amazonas (PECTI/AM-PG) from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas (FAPEAM, Brazil).

Authorship policy

Conceived and designed the experiments: DNC, TSF, CRFM, RN, and FRFN. Performed the experiments: DNC, TSF, ASR, and ASF. Analyzed the data: DNC, TSF, and BPR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: FMMA, CRFM, and RN. Wrote the paper: DNC, RNMG, RN and FRFN.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Immunophysiology, Department of Pathology, Center for Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA), 65080-805, São Luís, Brazil

    Dalila Nunes Cysne, Thiare Silva Fortes, Aramys Silva Reis, Bruno de Paulo Ribeiro, Rosane Nassar Meireles Guerra & Flávia Raquel Fernandes Nascimento

  2. Department of Parasitology, Laboratory of Experimental Immunoparasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo (USP), 05508-000, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Aramys Silva Reis & Claudio Romero Farias Marinho

  3. Medical College, Center of Social Sciences, Health and Technology, Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA), 65900-410, Imperatriz, Brazil

    Aramys Silva Reis

  4. Laboratory of Biotechnology Applied to Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz Rondônia), 76812-245, Porto Velho, RO, Brazil

    Amália dos Santos Ferreira & Roberto Nicolete

  5. Department of Pharmacy, Laboratory of Herbal Medicine, Center of Biological Sciences and Health, Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA), 65085-580, São Luís, Brazil

    Flavia Maria Mendonça do Amaral

  6. Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz-Ceará), 60175-047, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil

    Roberto Nicolete

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  1. Dalila Nunes Cysne
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  2. Thiare Silva Fortes
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  3. Aramys Silva Reis
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  7. Rosane Nassar Meireles Guerra
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  8. Claudio Romero Farias Marinho
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  9. Roberto Nicolete
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  10. Flávia Raquel Fernandes Nascimento
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Correspondence to Flávia Raquel Fernandes Nascimento.

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Cysne, D.N., Fortes, T.S., Reis, A.S. et al. Antimalarial potential of leaves of Chenopodium ambrosioides L.. Parasitol Res 115, 4327–4334 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-5216-x

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