RESUMO
The aim of this study was to evaluate the anthelmintic activity of hexane (HE), ethyl acetate (EA) and ethanol (EE) extracts obtained from the seeds of Jatropha curcas using the egg hatch inhibition assay (EHA) and the artificial larval exsheathment inhibition assay (LEIA). For the egg hatch assay, HE, EA and EE were used in concentrations of 3.12, 6.25, 12.5, 25 and 50 mg ml(-1), accompanied by a negative control (5% Tween 80) and a positive control (0.025 g ml(-1) thiabendazole). In LEIA, the extracts were tested at a concentration of 1000 µg ml(-1), accompanied by a negative control (PBS). To evaluate the effect of tannins, the extract with the greatest effect was incubated with polyvinyl polypyrrolidone (PVPP). The EE (50 mg ml(-1)) inhibited 99.8% of egg hatching. After the addition of PVPP, the ovicidal effectiveness of EE was reduced to 91.9%. Using the HE and EA, inhibition of egg hatching was 15.3% and 32.2%, respectively. In the LEIA, 18.9% of L3 incubated with EE were exsheathed (p<0.01). The addition of PVPP to EE reversed the inhibitory effect on larval exsheathment. The percentage of exsheathment of L3 incubated with HE (99.6%) and EA (97.8%) did not differ from the control group (p>0.05). The results show that the effects of EE on eggs are not solely due to the tannins. However, these secondary metabolites are implicated in blocking the larval exsheathment.