Anti-echinococcal activity of menthol and a novel prodrug, menthol-pentanol, against Echinococcus multilocularis.

Alveolar echinococcosis is one of the most dangerous parasitic zoonoses. This disease, widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, is caused by the metacestode stage of the tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis. All surgical and non-surgical patients should perform chemotherapy with benzimidazoles, mainly with albendazole. However, the efficacy of albendazole is variable due to its deficient pharmacokinetic properties. Therefore, the need to find new therapeutic alternatives for the treatment of alveolar echinococcosis is evident. Menthol is a natural compound of low toxicity, used in industries such as cosmetics and gastronomy and generally recognized as safe by the Food and Drug Administration. In addition, menthol has important pharmacological effects and is effective against a wide variety of organisms. The development of prodrugs allows improving the pharmacokinetic properties of the parental drug. To improve lipophilicity and therefore the bioavailability of menthol, a novel prodrug called menthol-pentanol was developed by masking the functional polar group of menthol by linking n-pentanol by a carbonate bond. The aim of the current work was to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo efficacy of menthol and menthol-pentanol against E. multilocularis. Menthol-pentanol had a greater protoscolicidal effect than menthol. In addition, the prodrug demonstrated a similar clinical efficacy to albendazole. The increase in lipophilicity of the prodrug with respect to menthol was reflected in an increase in its antiparasitic activity against E. multilocularis. Thus, menthol-pentanol appears as a promising candidate for further evaluation as a potential alternative for the treatment of alveolar echinococcosis.

Validation of Ultraviolet-visible and High-performance Liquid Chromatographic Methods for the Determination of Sodium p-Aminosalicylate and m-Aminophenol in a New Pharmaceutical Formulation.

Sodium p-aminosalycilate is an orphan drug used in patients affected with Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis. Two methods, high-performance liquid chromatographic and ultraviolet spectrophotometric for the quantitative determination of sodium p-aminosalycilate and its degradation product m-aminophenol in a new pharmaceutical formulation, powder for extemporaneous reconstitution, were developed in the present work. The parameters linearity, precision, accuracy, specificity, robustness, limit of detection, and limit of quantification were also studied. Chromatography was carried out by reverse-phase technique on an RP-18 column with a mobile phase composed of 50 mM monobasic/dibasic phosphate buffer and methanol (42.5:42.5:15 v/v/v) with 1.9 g of hidroxytetrabutylammonium ionic pare adjusted to pH 7.0 with orthophosphoric acid. The ultraviolet spectrophotometric method was performed at 254 nm and 280 nm for quantification of sodium p-aminosalycilate and m-aminophenol, respectively. The proposed methods are highly sensitive, precise, and accurate and can be used for the reliable quantification of sodium p-aminosalycilate in the new alternative formulation. High-performance liquid chromatographic approach demonstrated to be a stability-indicating method, therefore suitable for the investigation of the chemical stability of sodium p-aminosalycilate.