Antileishmanial activity of 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) propanoic acid purified from Amazonian Piper tuberculatum Jacq., Piperaceae, fruits

Atividade antileishmania do 3,4,5-trimetoxi-dihidrocinâmico purificado das frutas de Piper tuberculatum Jacq., Piperaceae, amazônica

Antileishmanial activity of 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) propanoic acid purified from Amazonian Piper tuberculatum Jacq., Piperaceae, fruits

Atividade antileishmania do 3,4,5-trimetoxi-dihidrocinâmico purificado das frutas de Piper tuberculatum Jacq., Piperaceae, amazônica

Maria Goretty P. R. Ferreira^I,#; Anderson M. Kayano^II; Izaltina Silva-Jardim^I; Tatiany O. da Silva^I; Juliana P. Zuliani^I,II; Valdir A. Facundo^III; Leonardo de A. Calderon^I,II; Alexandre de Almeida-e-Silva^I,IV; Pietro Ciancaglini^V; Rodrigo G. Stábeli^I,II,*

^IInstituto de Pesquisas em Patologias Tropicais de Rondônia, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz Noroeste, Rua da Beira 7671, BR364, km 3.5, 76812-245 Porto Velho-RO, Brazil

^IICentro de Estudos de Biomoléculas Aplicadas a Medicina Prof. Dr. José Roberto Giglio, Núcleo de Saúde, Universidade Federal de Rondônia, BR 364, km 9.5, 76800-000 Porto Velho-RO, Brazil

^IIILaboratório de Química Orgânica, Núcleo de Ciência e Tecnologia, Universidade Federal de Rondônia, BR 364, km 9.5, 76800-000 Porto Velho-RO, Brazil

^IVLaboratório de Bioecologia de Insetos, Núcleo de Ciência e Tecnologia, Universidade Federal de Rondônia, BR 364, km 9.5, 76800-000 Porto Velho-RO, Brazil

^VDepartamento de Química, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, 14040-901 São Paulo-SP, Brazil

ABSTRACT

Leishmanicidal activity of the 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) propanoic acid (TMPP) isolated from EtOH extracts of the Amazonian Piper turbeculatum Jacq. fruits was evaluated in vitro using Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes. The TMPP was assayed at concentrations of 1600 to 6.25 µg/mL for 24, 48, 72 and 96 h. Promastigotes viability was analyzed and the IC50 of TMPP was 145 µg/mL.

Keywords: Piper tuberculatum, Piperaceae, 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) propanoic acid, Leishmania amazonensis, leishmanicidal activity.

RESUMO

A atividade leishmanicida do ácido 3,4,5-trimetoxi-dihidrocinâmico (TMPP) isolado do extrato hidroalcoólico de frutos de Piper turbeculatum Jacq. amazônica foi testado em ensaios in vitro utilizando formas promastigotas de Leishmania amazonensis. O TMPP foi utilizado em culturas de L. amazonensis nas concentrações de 1600 a 6,25 µg/mL. A viabilidade celular das formas promastigotas foi observada em 24, 48, 72 e 96 h para cálculo da CI50. O TMPP apresentou efeito leishmanicida dose dependente para as formas promastigotas de L. amazonensis apresentando CI50 de 145 µg/mL.

Unitermos: Piper tuberculatum Jacq., Piperaceae, ácido 3,4,5-trimetoxi-dihidrocinâmico, Leishmania amazonensis, atividade leishmanicida.

INTRODUCTION

Leishmaniasis is a broad group of parasitic diseases with a wide spectrum of morbidity. It is currently estimated that 350 million people are at risk, and that more than two million new cases occur annually (Reithinger et al., 2007). Leishmaniasis treatments present many problems such as potentially toxic drugs with parenteral administration, several collateral effects, resistance to medication and the need for long term treatment (Santos et al., 2008).

The above mentioned, in addition to the emergence of drug resistance and the absence of oral preparations, encourages innovation in the development of new drugs against leishmaniases parasites. Many researches have been done in order to find new compounds from the biodiversity with potential leishmanicidal activity (Calderon et al., 2009; Rocha et al., 2009; Flores et al., 2008; Paula-Júnior et al., 2006).

Thus, Piper is a genus that is both economically and ecologically significant and includes a fascinating array of vegetal species for the study of natural products in organic chemistry, pharmaceutics products, and ethnobotany. The Piper genus includes more than a hundred species and is one of the largest genera of basal angiosperms distributed pantropically as shrubs, herbs, and lianas. The greatest diversity of Piper species occurs in the tropics of the Americas (about 700 spp.), followed by Southern Asia (300 spp. approximately) (Jaramillo & Manos, 2001).

Extracts from Piper are employed by people throughout the tropics for many purposes, such as antimicrobial, antifungal , antipyretic, aromatic, diuretic, emetic, fish bait, food, hallucinogen, ornamental, perfume, spices, styptics, sudorific, as well as many other medicinal recipes (Wadt et al., 2004). These uses demonstrate some of the array of biological properties of the chemicals present in these species, which have potential pharmacological applications (Kato & Furlan, 2007). Most of the compounds isolated from the Piper species are essential oils, lignans, phenylpropanoids, and sesquiterpenes (Facundo et al., 2008). Some of these molecules have economic value, such as sassafras oil or Safrole, an important raw material for the chemical industry (Rocha & Ming, 1999).

The Piper tuberculatum Jacq., Piperaceae, is popularly known in the Northeast of Brazil as "pimenta-longa" or "pimenta-d'arda" (Facundo et al., 2008). Local communities have traditionally used this species as an anesthetic sedative for toothache, antidote for snake bite, stimulants, and stomach problems (Chaves et al., 2003). Recent studies showed that different extracts and isolated molecules from P. tuberculatum present antifungal (Lago et al., 2004), antitumor (Bezerra et al., 2006), antiplatelet aggregation (Fontenele et al., 2009), insecticide (Pohlit et al., 2004) and hypotensive properties (Duarte et al., 2004).

In this short communication we report the preliminary in vitro antileishmanial activity of 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) propanoic acid (TMPP) purified from Piper tuberculatum Jacq fruits.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Fresh fruits of Piper tuberculatum Jacq., Piperaceae, were collected around the city of Porto Velho-RO, Brazil (Southwestern Amazon). A voucher specimen (211724) was deposited in the herbarium of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus-AM, Brazil. The fruits (1.5 kg) were dried, powdered and extracted with 95% EtOH (3x 1.0 L). The extract was concentrated, delipidated by n-hexane, and partitioned with EtOAc. The EtOAc layer was concentrated and the fractions were chromatographed on silica gel column (200-300 mesh, 80 g) and eluted with n-hexane and subsequently by n-hexane/EtOAc mixtures (19:1, 9:1 and 2:1, v/v, increasing polarity) to give more eighteen fractions. Fraction 12 (124.2 mg) was re-chromatographed in silica gel (20 g) eluted with n-hexane/EtOAc (4:6) and yielded the purified compound TMPP (56.5 mg). The chemical identity of the 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) propanoic acid (1) was performed on the basis of their ESI-MS,1D and 2D NMR data according to Facundo et al. (2008). TMPP (10 mg) was diluted in 2000 µL of 20% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) and used in leishmanicidal assay.

The promastigotes of Leishmania amazonensis PH8 strain (IFLA/BR/67/PH8) were harvested on the 5^th day of growth (stationary phase) for the in vitro assays. The parasites (5x 10⁵ per well) were incubated at 24 ºC for 96 h in duplicate on RPMI culture medium with or without 1600, 800, 400, 200, 100, 50, 25.5, 6.25 µg/mL of TMPP. Viability of parasites was determined daily by erythrosin B (0.04% in PBS) dye exclusion.

All experiments were performed in duplicate, and the results expressed as logarithmic number of cells per milliliter and as a percentage of growth inhibition. Two positive controls were prepared with 1600 µg/mL Pentamidine^® (pentamidine isethionate) and 1600 µg/mL Glucantime^® (meglumine antimoniate). Inhibitory Concentrations (IC) were calculated by Probit Analysis (Minitab 14).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) propanoic acid (1) (TMPP) interfered with the promastigote replication. On the third day of incubation, a significant decrease in the parasite growth induced by TMPP (1600 and 800 µg/mL) and the presence of some dead parasites was observed. After 96 h of incubation, the calculated inhibitory concentrations were 145 µg/mL and 703 µg/mL for IC50 and IC90, respectively. The Pentamidine^® eliminated 100% of promastigotes after 24 h of incubation at 1600 µg/mL. However, Glucantime^® at 1600 µg/mL inhibited only approximately 22.5% , similar to the growth inhibition by 200 µg/mL of TMPP (Figure 1). It is believed that antimony, like glucantime, may be a prodrug and is converted to trivalent antimony after administration, interfering in the process of β-oxidation of fatty acids and of glycolysis in the parasite (Croft & Coombs, 2003). For over ninety years the drug based on antimony is the first choice in the treatment of leishmaniasis. The demand for new drugs for leishmaniasis cure, which affect the life cycle of the parasite, is necessary, to replace the treatment of first choice. The present results suggest that the TMPP was more efficient than Glucantime^® and may be a new bioactive leishmanicidal compound.

The Piperaceae family is under investigation by many laboratories and presents important perspectives for drugs development (Calderon et al., 2009). This is the first report of leishmanicidal activity of TMPP. Other natural products with leishmanicidal activity were isolated from other Piper species, such as methyl 3,4-dihydroxy-5-(3'-methyl-2'-butenyl)benzoate (Flores et al., 2008), several prenylated benzoic acids (Flores et al., 2009), kavapyrone and some chalcones (Flores et al., 2007).

Although additional tests involving this natural product, such as pharmacological and toxicological studies, are required for the elucidation of the TMPP mechanism of action in the promastigote replication, these results might be useful in the identification of natural products' candidates for the development of new antileishmanial drugs.

CONCLUSION

The 3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) propanoic acid (1) purified from Piper tuberculatum Jacq., Piperaceae, fruits inhibited the growth of L. amazonensis promastigotes with an IC50 value of 145 µg/mL.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful Dr. J. Gomes from Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa da Amazônia (INPA) for identification of plant material, and CT-Amazonia/CNPq, FINEP and Pronex/CNPq/Seplad/RO for the financial support.

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Taken in part from a memorial submitted by MGPRS to the Federal University of Rondonia in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Master degree in Experimental Biology.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  29 Oct 2010
• Date of issue
  Dec 2010