Navegando por Assunto "Crotoxina"

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Estudo da ação da crotoxina sobre o perfil de ativação de macrófagos peritoneais infectados com Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis
(Universidade Federal do Pará, 2016-04-12) FARIAS, Luis Henrique Seabra de; SILVA, Edilene Oliveira da; http://lattes.cnpq.br/7410116802190343
American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis (ATL) is a parasitic disease widely spread in most countries of Latin America, and caused by different species of the genus Leishmania. This protozoan is an obligate intracellular parasite that developed mechanisms to subvert the microbicidal activity of macrophages, such as inhibition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) production. The chemotherapy is one of the most effective treatments for this disease, although the antileishmanial drugs available are in general toxic, expensive and require long-term treatment. Thus, the development of new natural products to treat leishmaniasis has become a priority. Ophidian toxins are natural sources of bioactive products with therapeutic properties already described. Therefore, we considered analyze the activity of crotoxin (CTX), a dimeric protein and the main neurotoxic component of Crotalus durissus terrificus snake venom, against promastigotes of Leishmania (L.) amazonensis and macrophages. The toxin significantly decreasing of 32,5% on the growth of promastigotes at 1,2μg/mL and 24,9% at 4,8μg/mL after 96 hours of treatment (IC50= 22,86μg/mL). The colorimetric assay (MTT) showed that this compound presented no cytotoxic effects against macrophages. Interestingly, CTX treated macrophages presented a significant higher capacity to metabolize the MTT substrate (mean= 59,78% ±3,31, higher) when compared with untreated control. It was observed that treated macrophages presented intense production of ROS (mean= 35,95% ±2,76, higher) when compared with untreated cells. Treated macrophages presented increased phagocytic activity and were capable to eliminate intracellular parasites. Besides that, these cells had it NO and pro-inflammatory cytokines production increased and morphological alteration that characterizes the M1 cellular activation profile. That activation culminates with the parasite elimination throughout host response, reverting the anergic action promoted by L. amazonensis, thereby leading to a good disease prognostic, evidencing that this compound could be a promising antileishmanial agent.