In vitro evaluation of the cytotoxicity and eye irritation potential of preservatives widely used in cosmetics

Abstract The consumption of cosmetics has been increasing every year and is expected to reach $675 billion by 2020 at an estimated growth rate of 6.4% per year. Exposure to skin irritants is the major cause of non-immunological inflammation of the skin. Therefore, the safety evaluation of cosmetic preservatives should be increased. Thus, the present work aimed to evaluate the cytotoxicity as the viability endpoint and the eye irritation potential of preservatives used in cosmetics. Cytotoxicity assays were performed using MTT and NRU in human keratinocytes (HaCaT), human dermal fibroblasts, adult (HDFa), and human hepatoma cells (HepG2). The eye irritation potential was evaluated using the Hen's Egg Test-chorioallantoic membrane (HET-CAM). The evaluated preservatives were methylparaben (MP), propylparaben (PP), phenoxyethanol (PE), and a mixture of methylchloroisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone (CMI/MI). All preservatives showed cytotoxic potential within the permitted concentrations for use in cosmetic products. In the HET-CAM test, PE and CMI/MI, MP, and PP were classified as severe, moderate, and poor irritants, respectively. Our results indicate that proper safety evaluations are required to ensure the beneficial properties of preservatives on cosmetic products without exceeding exposure levels that would result in adverse health effects for consumers.

Mutational data and population profiling of 23 Y-STRs in three Brazilian populations.

Y-chromosomal STRs are important markers in forensic genetics, due to some peculiar characteristics. The absence of recombination makes them a useful tool to infer kinship in complex cases involving distant paternal relatives, or to infer paternal bio-geographic ancestry. The presence of a single copy, being transmitted from father to son, allow tracing mutational events in Y-STRs without ambiguity. For the statistical interpretation of forensic evidences based on Y-STR profiles, it is necessary to have estimates on both mutation rates and haplotype frequencies. In this work, 407 father-son duos from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states and 204 unrelated individuals from Manaus were analyzed. Haplotype frequencies and mutation rates for the Y-STRs from the PowerPlex Y23 commercial kit were estimated. Thirty-six mutations were observed in 15 of the 22 Y-STRs analyzed, for an average mutation rate of 3.84 × 10-3 (95 % CI 2.69 × 10-3 to 5.32 × 10-3). All mutations in GAAA repeats occurred in alleles with 13 or more uninterrupted units. Mutations in GATA repeats were observed in alleles with 9-17 uninterrupted units. An analysis carried out in different father's age groups showed an increase of 2.48 times the mutation rate in the age group of 40-50 years, when compared to the 20-30 age group, in agreement with the described for autosomal STRs. A high haplotype diversity was found in the three Brazilian populations. Pairwise genetic distance analysis (FST) showed no significant differences between the three populations in this study, which were also close to populations with strong European influence. The highest distances among the Brazilian populations were with São Gabriel da Cachoeira, which has a high Native American ancestry.

Genetic characterization of 32 X-InDels in a population sample from São Paulo State (Brazil).

X-chromosomal markers can be useful in some forensic cases, where the analysis of the autosomal markers is not conclusive. In this study, a population sample of 500 unrelated individuals born in São Paulo State was characterized for 32 X-InDel markers. No deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were detected, except for MID1361. The 32 X-InDels showed an accumulated power of discrimination of 0.9999999999993 in females and 0.99999993 in males and an exclusion chance of 0.999996 in trios and 0.99995 in duos. São Paulo showed lower genetic distances to the Colombian admixed and European populations than to Native American, Asian, or African populations. Ancestry analysis revealed 41.8% European, 31.6% African, and 26.6% Native American contributions. Segregation analysis was performed in 101 trios, and the mutation rate was estimated to be low.

Trypanosoma cruzi: analysis of two different strains after piplartine treatment.

The hemoflagellate protozoan, Trypanosoma cruzi, mainly transmitted by triatomine insects through blood transfusion or from mother-to-child, causes Chagas' disease. This is a serious parasitic disease that occurs in Latin America, with considerable social and economic impact. Nifurtimox and benznidazole, drugs indicated for treating infected persons, are effective in the acute phase, but poorly effective during the chronic phase. Therefore, it is extremely urgent to find innovative chemotherapeutic agents and/or effective vaccines. Since piplartine has several biological activities, including trypanocidal activity, the present study aimed to evaluate it on two T. cruzi strains proteome. Considerable changes in the expression of some important enzymes involved in parasite protection against oxidative stress, such as tryparedoxin peroxidase (TXNPx) and methionine sulfoxide reductase (MSR) was observed in both strains. These findings suggest that blocking the expression of the two enzymes could be potential targets for therapeutic studies.

Trypanosoma cruzi: analysis of two different strains after piplartine treatment

ABSTRACT The hemoflagellate protozoan, Trypanosoma cruzi, mainly transmitted by triatomine insects through blood transfusion or from mother-to-child, causes Chagas' disease. This is a serious parasitic disease that occurs in Latin America, with considerable social and economic impact. Nifurtimox and benznidazole, drugs indicated for treating infected persons, are effective in the acute phase, but poorly effective during the chronic phase. Therefore, it is extremely urgent to find innovative chemotherapeutic agents and/or effective vaccines. Since piplartine has several biological activities, including trypanocidal activity, the present study aimed to evaluate it on two T. cruzi strains proteome. Considerable changes in the expression of some important enzymes involved in parasite protection against oxidative stress, such as tryparedoxin peroxidase (TXNPx) and methionine sulfoxide reductase (MSR) was observed in both strains. These findings suggest that blocking the expression of the two enzymes could be potential targets for therapeutic studies.

Mutation rates for 20 STR loci in a population from São Paulo state, Southeast, Brazil.

Short tandem repeats (STRs) are genetic markers largely employed in forensic analysis and paternity investigation cases. When an inconsistency between the parent and child is considered as a possible mutation, the mutation rate should be incorporated into paternity index calculations to give a robust result and to reduce the chance of misinterpretation. The aim of this study was to estimate the mutation rates of 20 autosomal STRs loci used for paternity tests. In these loci we analysed 29,831 parent-child allelic transfers from 929 duo or trio paternity tests carried out during 2012?2016 from São Paulo State, Brazil. We identified 35 mutations in 16 loci, and they were more frequent in the paternal germline compared to the maternal germline. The loci with the highest rate were vWA and FGA and the ones with the lowest rate were PENTA E, PENTA D, D21S11, D7S820 and D6S1043. We did not identified any mutation in D2S1338, TH01, TPOX and D16S539 loci. All mutations consisted of losses or gains of one repeat unit. Mutation rates found in the São Paulo population have peculiarities, which justifies the use of regional databases in laboratories.

Toxicity and Loss of Mitochondrial Membrane Potential Induced by Alkyl Gallates in Trypanosoma cruzi.

American trypanosomiasis or Chagas disease is a debilitating disease representing an important social problem that affects, approximately, 10 million people in the world. The main aggravating factor of this situation is the lack of an effective drug to treat the different stages of this disease. In this context, the search for trypanocidal substances isolated from plants, synthetic or semi synthetic molecules, is an important strategy. Here, the trypanocidal potential of gallates was assayed in epimastigotes forms of T. cruzi and also, the interference of these substances on the mitochondrial membrane potential of the parasites was assessed, allowing the study of the mechanism of action of the gallates in the T. cruzi organisms. Regarding the preliminary structure-activity relationships, the side chain length of gallates plays crucial role for activity. Nonyl, decyl, undecyl, and dodecyl gallates showed potent antitrypanosomal effect (IC50 from 1.46 to 2.90 µM) in contrast with benznidazole (IC50 = 34.0 µM). Heptyl gallate showed a strong synergistic activity with benznidazole, reducing by 10(5)-fold the IC50 of benznidazole. Loss of mitochondrial membrane potential induced by these esters was revealed. Tetradecyl gallate induced a loss of 53% of the mitochondrial membrane potential, at IC50 value.

Synthesis and tripanocidal activity of ferrocenyl and benzyl diamines against Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi.

Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi are the etiologic agents of sleeping sickness and Chagas disease, respectively, two of the 17 preventable tropical infectious diseases (NTD) which have been neglected by governments and organizations working in the health sector, as well as pharmaceutical industries. High toxicity and resistance are problems of the conventional drugs employed against trypanosomiasis, hence the need for the development of new drugs with trypanocidal activity. In this work we have evaluated the trypanocidal activity of a series of N1,N2-dibenzylethane-1,2-diamine hydrochlorides (benzyl diamines) and N1-benzyl,N2-methyferrocenylethane-1,2-diamine hydrochlorides (ferrocenyl diamines) against T. brucei and T. cruzi parasite strains. We show that incorporation of the ferrocenyl group into the benzyl diamines increases the trypanocidal activity. The molecules exhibit potential trypanocidal activity in vitro against all parasite strains. Cytotoxicity assay was also carried out to evaluate the toxicity in HepG2 cells.

Brazilian genetic database of chromosome X.

The X chromosome is a singular source of information in population genetics, anthropological research and in forensic cases. Thus, many researchers have been interested in characterizing X chromosome markers in different populations. The Brazilian Genetic Database of Chromosome X (BGBX--Banco Genético Brasileiro do Cromossomo X) website is freely available in Portuguese and English versions and was developed with the main purpose of compiling all Brazilian population genetic data for X chromosome short tandem repeats (X-STRs) markers published in scientific journals searchable via PubMed. Furthermore, this database presents other relevant information concerning X-STRs, such as genetic and physical locations, allele structure, nomenclature, mutation rates, primers described in the literature and likelihood ratio calculation. The entire scientific community is now encouraged to submit their X-STR population genetic data to this website, available at http://www.bgbx.com.br. Regarding future prospects of BGBX, the authors intend to expand the website with data and information of X-linked insertion-deletion polymorphisms.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of new aryl thiosemicarbazone as antichagasic candidates.

The present work reports on the synthesis, biological assaying and docking studies of a series of 12 aryl thiosemicarbazones, which were planned to act over two main enzymes, cruzain and trypanothione reductase. These enzymes are used as targets of trypanocidal activity in Chagas disease control with a minimal mutagenic profile. Three p-nitroaromatic thiosemicarbazones showed high activity against Trypanosoma cruzi in in vitro assays (IC50 < 57 µM), and no mutagenic profile was observed in micronucleous tests. Although the in vitro inhibition test showed that 10-µM doses of eight compounds inhibited cruzain activity, no correlation was found between cruzain inhibition and trypanocidal activity.

Development and validation of a D-loop mtDNA SNP assay for the screening of specimens in forensic casework.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis is usually a last resort in routine forensic DNA casework. However, it has become a powerful tool for the analysis of highly degraded samples or samples containing too little or no nuclear DNA, such as old bones and hair shafts. The gold standard methodology still constitutes the direct sequencing of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products or cloned amplicons from the HVS-1 and HVS-2 (hypervariable segment) control region segments. Identifications using mtDNA are time consuming, expensive and can be very complex, depending on the amount and nature of the material being tested. The main goal of this work is to develop a less labour-intensive and less expensive screening method for mtDNA analysis, in order to aid in the exclusion of non-matching samples and as a presumptive test prior to final confirmatory DNA sequencing. We have selected 14 highly discriminatory single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) based on simulations performed by Salas and Amigo (2010) to be typed using SNaPShot(TM) (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). The assay was validated by typing more than 100 HVS-1/HVS-2 sequenced samples. No differences were observed between the SNP typing and DNA sequencing when results were compared, with the exception of allelic dropouts observed in a few haplotypes. Haplotype diversity simulations were performed using 172 mtDNA sequences representative of the Brazilian population and a score of 0.9794 was obtained when the 14 SNPs were used, showing that the theoretical prediction approach for the selection of highly discriminatory SNPs suggested by Salas and Amigo (2010) was confirmed in the population studied. As the main goal of the work is to develop a screening assay to skip the sequencing of all samples in a particular case, a pair-wise comparison of the sequences was done using the selected SNPs. When both HVS-1/HVS-2 SNPs were used for simulations, at least two differences were observed in 93.2% of the comparisons performed. The assay was validated with casework samples. Results show that the method is straightforward and can be used for exclusionary purposes, saving time and laboratory resources. The assay confirms the theoretic prediction suggested by Salas and Amigo (2010). All forensic advantages, such as high sensitivity and power of discrimination, as also the disadvantages, such as the occurrence of allele dropouts, are discussed throughout the article.

Genetic data of 15 autosomal STR loci: an analysis of the Araraquara population colonization (São Paulo, Brazil).

The genetic markers most commonly utilized to determine identity and in paternity testing are autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs); to interpret the DNA analysis, the results of a case have to be compared with a pertinent reference population. Thus, the aim of this work was to characterize the genetic profile of the population of Araraquara (São Paulo, Brazil) by analyzing 15 STR loci included in the PowerPlex(®) 16 System and to correlate these data with the migration history of the population. No deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed for any of the loci, after Bonferroni's correction. Forensic parameters exhibited high values, the most polymorphic loci being Penta E, D18S51 and FGA. An unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) tree based on genetic distances showed that the current population of Araraquara is grouped with populations of the southeastern region of Brazil, which are close to the European group but distant from African and Amerindian populations. Estimates of admixture components revealed that the contributions to the population of Araraquara were 76% European, 18% African, and 6% Amerindian.

Trypanosoma cruzi: evaluation of (-)-cubebin derivatives activity in the messenger RNAs processing.

No fully effective treatment has been developed since the discovery of Chagas' disease. Since drug-resistant Trypanosoma cruzi strains are occurring and the current therapy is effective in the acute phase but with various adverse side effects, more studies are needed to characterize the susceptibility of T. cruzi to new drugs. Pre-mRNA maturation in trypanosomatids occurs through a process called trans-splicing, which is unusual RNA processing reaction, and it implies the processing of polycistronic transcription units into individual mRNAs; a short transcript spliced leader (SL RNA) is trans-spliced to the acceptor pre-mRNA, giving origin to the mature mRNA. Cubebin derivatives seem to provide treatments with less collateral effects than benznidazole and showed similar or better trypanocidal activities than benznidazole. Therefore, the cubebin derivatives ((-)-6,6'-dinitrohinokinin (DNH) and (-)-hinokinin (HQ)) interference in the mRNA processing was evaluated using T. cruzi permeable cells (Y and BOL (Bolivia) strains) following by RNase protection reaction. These substances seem to intervene in any step of the RNA transcription, promoting alterations in the RNA synthesis, even though the RNA processing mechanism still occurs. Furthermore, HQ presented better activity against the parasites than DNH, meaning that BOL strain seems to be more resistant than Y.

Spliceosomal proteomics in Trypanosoma brucei reveal new RNA splicing factors.

In trypanosomatid parasites, spliced leader (SL) trans splicing is an essential nuclear mRNA maturation step which caps mRNAs posttranscriptionally and, in conjunction with polyadenylation, resolves individual mRNAs from polycistronic precursors. While all trypanosomatid mRNAs are trans spliced, intron removal by cis splicing is extremely rare and predicted to occur in only four pre-mRNAs. trans- and cis-splicing reactions are carried out by the spliceosome, which consists of U-rich small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (U snRNPs) and of non-snRNP factors. Mammalian and yeast spliceosome complexes are well characterized and found to be associated with up to 170 proteins. Despite the central importance of trans splicing in trypanosomatid gene expression, only the core RNP proteins and a few snRNP-specific proteins are known. To characterize the trypanosome spliceosomal protein repertoire, we conducted a proteomic analysis by tagging and tandem affinity-purifying the canonical core RNP protein SmD1 in Trypanosoma brucei and by identifying copurified proteins by mass spectrometry. The set of 47 identified proteins harbored nearly all spliceosomal snRNP factors characterized in trypanosomes thus far and 21 proteins lacking a specific annotation. A bioinformatic analysis combined with protein pull-down assays and immunofluorescence microscopy identified 10 divergent orthologues of known splicing factors, including the missing U1-specific protein U1A. In addition, a novel U5-specific, and, as we show, an essential splicing factor was identified that shares a short, highly conserved N-terminal domain with the yeast protein Cwc21p and was thus tentatively named U5-Cwc21. Together, these data strongly indicate that most of the identified proteins are components of the spliceosome.

Trypanocidal activity of Piper arboreum and Piper tuberculatum (Piperaceae) / Atividade tripanocida de Piper arboreum e Piper tuberculatum (Piperaceae)

No escopo de nossas pesquisas sobre agentes bioativos da flora brasileira, vinte e quatro extratos e frações de Piper arboreum Aub. e Piper tuberculatum Jacq. (Piperaceae) tiveram sua atividade tripanocida avaliada através do ensaio colorimétrico com MTT. As atividades mais potentes foram manifestadas pelas frações hexânicas das folhas de P. arboreum (CI50 = 13,3 µg/mL) e P. tuberculatum (CI50 = 17,2 µg/mL). As frações hexânicas dos frutos de P. tuberculatum e P. arboreum também apresentaram efeito tóxico potente contra as formas epimastigotas de Trypanosoma cruzi, com valores de CI50 (µg/mL) de 32,2 e 31,3, respectivamente. Adicionalmente, o estudo fitoquímico da fração hexânica das folhas de P. arboreum forneceu duas amidas pirrolidínicas, piperilina (1) e 4,5-diidropiperilina (2), que podem ser responsáveis pela atividade antiprotozoária desta fração.

In the scope of our ongoing research on bioactive agents from Brazilian flora, twenty-four extracts and fractions obtained from Piper arboreum Aub. and Piper tuberculatum Jacq. (Piperaceae) were screened for trypanocidal activity by using MTT colorimetric assay. The strongest activity was found in hexane fractions from the leaves of P. arboreum (IC50= 13.3 µg/ mL) and P. tuberculatum (IC50 = 17.2 µg/mL). Hexane fractions of the fruits of P. tuberculatum and P. arboreum showed potent toxic effects on epimastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi, with values of IC50 (µg/mL) of 32.2 and 31.3, respectively. Additionally, the phytochemical study of the hexane fraction of P. arboreum leaves furnished two pyrrolidine amides, piperyline (1) and 4,5-dihydropiperyline (2), which could be responsible, at least in part for the observed antiprotozoal activity.

In vitro activity of compounds isolated from Piper crassinervium against Trypanosoma cruzi.

This study describes the antichagasic potential of five compounds isolated from leaves of Piper crassinervium (Piperaceae). Two prenylated benzoic acid derivatives, one prenylated hydroquinone and two flavanones, were evaluated. The in vitro trypanocidal activity was determined against epimastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi (Y strain), the etiologic agent of Chagas disease. The most active compound was the prenylated hydroquinone [1,4-dihydroxy-2-(3(0),7(0)-dimethyl-1(0)-oxo-2(0)-E,6(0)-octadienyl)benzene] with an IC(50) value of 6.10 microg mL(-1), which was in the same order of activity if compared with the positive control benznidazole (IC(50) = 1.60 microg mL(-1)). This is the first report of trypanocidal activity for prenylated hydroquinone and benzoic acid derivatives.

Detection and localization of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) in trypanosomatids using anti-m3G antibodies.

This work reports for the first time the identification and immunolocalization, by confocal and conventional indirect immunofluorescence, of m3G epitopes present in ribonucleoproteins of the following trypanosomatids: Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes of three different strains, Blastocrithidia ssp., and Leishmania major promastigotes. The identity of these epitopes and hence the specificity of the anti-m3G monoclonal antibody were ascertained through competition reaction with 7-methylguanosine that blocks the Ig binding sites, abolishing the fluorescence in all the parasites tested and showing a specific perinuclear localization of the snRNPs, which suggests their nuclear reimport in the parasites. Using an immunoprecipitation technique, it was also possible to confirm the presence of the trimethylguanosine epitopes in trypanosomatids.

Natural chromenes and chromene derivatives as potential anti-trypanosomal agents.

The aim of the study was to investigate the anti-trypanocidal activities of natural chromene and chromene derivatives. Five chromenes were isolated from Piper gaudichaudianum and P. aduncum, and a further seven derivatives were prepared using standard reduction, methylation and acetylation procedures. These compounds were assayed in vitro against epimastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. The results showed that the most of the compounds, especially those possessing electron-donating groups as substituents on the aromatic ring, showed potent trypanocidal activity. The most active compound, [(2S)-methyl-2-methyl-8-(3''-methylbut-2''-enyl)-2-(4'-methylpent-3'-enyl)-2H-chromene-6-carboxylate], was almost four times more potent than benznidazole (the positive control) and showed an IC50 of 2.82 microM. The results reveal that chromenes exhibit significant anti-trypanocidal activities and indicate that this class of natural product should be considered further in the development of new and more potent drugs for use in the treatment of Chagas disease.

Adesão de protozoários à superfície de dispositivos intra-uterinos / Protozoan adhesion on intra uterine device (IUD)surface

Os dispositivos intra-uterinos (DIU) são usados por aproximadamente 100 milhões de mulheres no mundo todo. O DIU não é prescrito para mulheres com predisposição à doença pélvica inflamatória que normalmente é causada pelas doenças sexualmente transmissíveis (DSTs) não tratadas. A tricomoníase, uma das três principais infecções vaginais, é causada por um protozoário flagelado, Trichomonas vaginalis, transmitido por contato sexual, e mesmo as mulheres assintomáticas são capazes de transmiti-lo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar por microscopia eletrônica de varredura a adesão deste protozoário às superfícies metálica e plástica do DIU. Fragmentos do DIU foram colocados em meio de Diamond contendo T. vaginalis e, após 3 dias de incubação a 37ºC, retirados e convenientemente tratados para observação em microscópio eletrônico de varredura. A leitura revelou os protozoários aderidos às superfícies plástica e metálica do dispositivo. Embora o DIU não esteja associado diretamente com a alta incidência de doença pélvica inflamatória, poderia tornar-se reservatório de organismos potencialmente infecciosos.

Mapeamento de bandas de Trans-splicing in vitro com extratos nucleares de Tryopanosoma cruzi / Band mapping of in vitro trans-splicing reaction using Trypanosoma cruzi nuclear extracts

A maturaçäo dos pré-mRNAs em tripanosomatídeos ocorre por meio de um mecanismo denominado trans-splicing, que envolve a excisäo dos íntrons e a uniäo dos éxonsde dois transcritos independentes. Um transcrito curto , splice leader (SL) RNA, é trans-spliceado a pré-mRNAs aceptores, originando o RNA maduro. O objetivo deste trabalho foi padronizar as condiçöes necessárias que favoreçam essa reaçäo in vitro, empregando, para este fim, extratos nucleares de formas epimastigotas de T. cruzi e pré-mRNA de alfa-tubulina de tripanosoma africano. Nas condiçöes experimentais para a reaçäo de trans-splicing, em que se utilizou extrato nuclear de cepa Bolíviae o pré-mRNA a-tubulina (aceptor) marcado radioativamente, na ausência do pré-mRNA SL exógeno, foi obtida uma banda acima do pré-mRNA de alfa-tubulina (possível produto), sugerindo que esta reagiu com o SL presente no extrato nuclear. A banda foi processada, mas näo se detectou a sequência do produto esperado(SL + éxon alfa-tubulina). Entretanto, o tamanho da banda na reaçäo de trans-splicing (acima do pré-mRNA) pode trtar-se do lariat, cuja estrutura molecular näo possibilitaria seu sequenciamento pela metodologia empregada. Interessante salientar que a banda somente aparece na reaçäo de trans-splicing contendo ATP, o que sugere tratar-se de uma reaçäo de transesterificaçäo.