Nanoemulsions for increased penetrability and sustained release of leishmanicidal compounds.

In the last decade, the World Health Organization has driven the development of drugs for topical use in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), the most prevalent clinical form of leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical disease. The chemicals C6 I, TC1, and TC2 were reported as promising antileishmanial drugs. We aimed to develop a topical nanoformulation that enhances the advantageous effect of C6 I, TC1, and TC2, guaranteeing higher stability and bioavailability of the pharmacologically active components through the topical route. Nanoemulsions were prepared by ultrasonication based on oleic acid (0.5 g). A relation of Tween®-80/ethanol (1:3) and water was obtained; physicochemical characterization of all formulations was performed, and the preliminary stability and transdermal penetration of these nanoemulsions were also investigated. Newtonian-type fluids with high load capacity, 147-273 nm globule size, and -15 to -18 mV zeta potential were obtained with differential permeability rates in the first pig ear skin assay, first-order kinetics-release model for C6 I, and Weibull for TC1 and TC2. The nanoemulsion showed good stability, high encapsulation efficiency, and higher leishmanicidal activity against Leishmania braziliensis with lower cytotoxicity in U937 macrophages. In conclusion, nanoemulsions of ethanol-oleic acid/Tween®-80 increase the activity of compounds with leishmanicidal activity by increasing their penetration and sustained release.

Effect of the variation in the extracellular concentration of l-arginine in the physiology of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis and its susceptibility to some antileishmanial drugs.

The knowledge about amino acid metabolism in trypanosomatids is a valuable source of new therapeutic targets. l-arginine is an essential amino acid for Leishmania parasites, and it participates in the synthesis of polyamines, a group of essential nutrients used for nucleic acids, proteins biosynthesis, and redox modulation necessary for proliferation. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of changes in the availability of this amino acid on promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes on U937 macrophages and showed that the absence of l-arginine in culture medium negatively influences the growth and infectivity of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis, causing a decrease in the percentage of the infected cells and parasite load tested through light microscopy. In addition, the absence of l-arginine resulted in the parasite's inability to regulate its reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, which persisted for up to 24 h by flow cytometry following the probe H2DCF-DA dye. Moreover, the differentiation of promastigote to amastigote in axenic culture was more significant at low concentrations of l-arginine suggesting that this depletion induces a stress environment to increase this transformation under axenic conditions. No association was established between the availability of l-arginine and the effectiveness of antileishmanial drugs. All these results confirm the importance of l-arginine in L. braziliensis life cycle vital processes, such as its replication and infectivity, as documented in other Leishmania species. Based on these results, we proposed that the l-arginine uptake/metabolism route is possible in exploring new antileishmanial drugs.

Effect of substituents in the A and B rings of chalcones on antiparasite activity.

Chalcones are a group of natural products with many recognized biological activities, including antiparasitic activity. Although a lot of chalcones have been synthetized and assayed against parasites, the number of structural features known to be involved in this biological property is small. Thus, in the present study, 21 chalcones were synthesized to determine the effect of substituents in the A and B rings on the activity against Leishmania braziliensis, Trypanosoma cruzi, and Plasmodium falciparum. The compounds were active against L. braziliensis in a structure-dependent manner. Only one compound was very active against T. cruzi, but none of them had a significant antiplasmodial activity. The electron-donating substituents in ring B and the hydrogen bonds at C-2' with carbonyl affect the antiparasitic activity.

Antileishmanial activity and cytotoxicity of ent-beyerene diterpenoids.

We describe the in vitro activity of two natural isomeric ent-beyerene diterpenes, several derivatives and synthetic intermediates. Beyerenols 1 and 2 showed EC50 of 4.6 ±â€¯9.4 and 5.3 ±â€¯9.4 µg/mL against amastigotes of L. (V) brazilensis, with SI of 5.1 and 7.7, respectively. Beyerenol 1 was synthesized from stevioside. In vivo experiments with bereyenols showed cure in 50% of hamsters infected with L. (V) brazilensis topically applied as Cream I (beyerenol 1, 0.81%, w/w) and Cream III (beyerenol 2, 1.96%, w/w). These results suggest that beyerenols are potential candidates for cutaneous leishmaniasis chemotherapy by topical application. In vitro assays of amastigotes of L. (V) brazilensis showed EC50 of 1.1 ±â€¯0.1 and 1.3 ±â€¯0.04 µg/mL, with SI of 3.1 and 3.5 for hydrazone intermediates 10 and 11, respectively.

Studies in vitro on infectivity and sensitivity to antileishmanial drugs in New World Leishmania species transfected with the green fluorescent protein [pIR3(-)-eGFP].

Current chemotherapeutic agents for leishmaniasis have several disadvantages interfering with the effective treatment and therefore more and better antileishmanial drugs are needed. Discovery of candidates for leishmaniasis treatment requires not only accurate and precise methodologies but also well-known biological system to measure infectivity of parasites and antileishmanial activity of the new compounds. Significant variation in the in vitro and in vivo infectivity and sensitivity to established and experimental drugs in Leishmania strains are reported. This work reports the in vitro biological behavior and antileishmanial drugs sensitivity of different green fluorescent protein transfectant Leishmanias strains. The in vitro growth kinetic and infectivity to U937 cells vary slightly in the Leishmania transfectant strains in comparison with their correspondant wild-type. However, the insertion of the pIR3(-)-eGFP may affect the sensitivity of the parasites to meglumine antimoniate (MA) and miltefosine but not to amphotericin B (AMB) and pentamidine isethionate. In consequence, AMB or pentamidine isethionate but not MA or miltefosine should be used as antileishmanial control drugs during in vitro assays of antileishmanial activity. Furthermore, is recommended to test compounds against more than one Leishmania strain in order to verify that the antileihmanial activity of these compound is similar among species.

Hydrazone Derivatives Enhance Antileishmanial Activity of Thiochroman-4-ones.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected tropical disease, which causes severe skin lesions. Due to the lack of effective vaccines, and toxicity or reduced effectiveness of available drugs in addition to complex and prolonged treatments, there is an urgent need to develop alternatives for the treatment for CL with different mechanisms of action. In our effort to search for new promising hits against Leishmania parasites we prepared 18 acyl hydrazone derivatives of thiochroman-4-ones. Compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antileishmanial activity against the intracellular amastigote form of Leishmania panamensis and cytotoxic activity against human monocytes (U-937 ATCC CRL-1593.2). Our results show that derivatization of the thiochroman-4-ones with acyl hydrazones significantly enhances the antileishmanial activity. Among the compounds tested semicarbazone and thiosemicarbazone derivatives of thioflavanone 19 and 20 displayed the highest antileishmanial activities, with EC50 values of 5.4 and 5.1 µM and low cytotoxicities (100.2 and 50.1 µM respectively), resulting in higher indexes of selectivity (IS).

Efficacy of different primaquine-based antimalarial regimens against Plasmodium falciparum gametocytemia.

This study compared the efficacy against Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes of four regimens: amodiaquine-sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (AQ-SP) and mefloquine-artesunate (MQ-AS), with and without primaquine (PQ) administered with the second dose of the schizonticide (AQ-SP; AQ-SP-PQ; MQ-AS; MQ-AS-PQ). Efficacy was determined by thick smear on days 1, 4 and 8 after the beginning of treatment. A total of 82 patients (19-23/group) were recruited. After AQ-SP administration, gametocytemia steadily increased until day 8. With AQ-SP-PQ, a marked decline in gametocytemia was detected on days 4 and 8. MQ-AS treatment resulted in reduced gametocytemia on days 4 and 8, and with MQ-AS-PQ it was reduced even further. None of the treatments cleared gametocytemia by day 8. Currently, artemisinin-based combination therapies plus PQ are the recommended treatment option against falciparum malaria; however, further studies are required to optimize the use of PQ. Issues to be addressed include the optimal time of administration, treatment duration, optimal daily and total dose, and day of evaluation of the gametocytocidal effect. In falciparum malaria, the WHO recommends a maximum of 4days of treatment; consequently, an effective regimen must clear asexual parasites and symptoms within this time frame. The same criteria should be taken into account when evaluating the anti-gametocyte activity.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis in the dorsal skin of hamsters: a useful model for the screening of antileishmanial drugs.

Traditionally, hamsters are experimentally inoculated in the snout or the footpad. However in these sites an ulcer not always occurs, measurement of lesion size is a hard procedure and animals show difficulty to eat, breathe and move because of the lesion. In order to optimize the hamster model for cutaneous leishmaniasis, young adult male and female golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) were injected intradermally at the dorsal skin with 1 to 1.5 x l0(7) promastigotes of Leishmania species and progression of subsequent lesions were evaluated for up to 16 weeks post infection. The golden hamster was selected because it is considered the adequate bio-model to evaluate drugs against Leishmania as they are susceptible to infection by different species. Cutaneous infection of hamsters results in chronic but controlled lesions, and a clinical evolution with signs similar to those observed in humans. Therefore, the establishment of the extent of infection by measuring the size of the lesion according to the area of indurations and ulcers is feasible. This approach has proven its versatility and easy management during inoculation, follow up and characterization of typical lesions (ulcers), application of treatments through different ways and obtaining of clinical samples after different treatments. By using this method the quality of animal life regarding locomotion, search for food and water, play and social activities is also preserved.