Atividade leishmanicida de extratos e óleos essenciais de plantas medicinais do Cerrado Brasileiro: uma revisão sistemática

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is a neglected disease with an estimated 700,000 new cases every year. The disease is characterized by an infection of the cells of the mononuclear phagocytic system, presented clinically in its cutaneous and visceral forms, and with first-line treatments that generate severe side effects. Brazil has the cerrado as a biome rich in plant diversity. The use of extract from medicinal plants has been widely studied on Leishmania species in vitro, with satisfactory results. The main objective of this work is to carry out a systematic review of studies conducted with extract derived from plants of the cerrado that may have potential 12 leishmanicidal activity. The collection of papers was performed out using the Google Scholar database, using the descriptors: Leishmania, extract, plant and cerrado. Only experimental articles were chosen that contained the minimum inhibitory concentration (IC50) capable of killing 50% of the parasites. The leishmanicidal activity of 140 extract and essential oils on promastigotes of Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum and Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis and on amastigotes of L. (L.) amazonensis was observed in 16 papers. The species Aspidosperma cuspa and Diospyros hispida and the species Eugenia pyriformis, Siparuna guianensis, Protium ovatum and Arrabidaea brachypoda showed the lowest IC50 in promastigotes of L. (L.) infantum and L. (L.) amazonensis, respectively. In amastigotes of L. (L.) amazonensis, the species with the lowest IC50 was Arrabidaea brachypoda. It is concluded that these are promising species to make possible the advancement of new chemotherapeutic alternatives to leishmaniasis, using compounds of natural origin.