From: "Saved by Windows Internet Explorer 9" Subject: Informa Healthcare - Pharmaceutical Biology - 48(4):388 - Summary Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 08:47:59 +0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0000_01CC50F0.E1E97B90" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.0.6002.18417 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0000_01CC50F0.E1E97B90 Content-Type: text/html; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/13880200903150385 =EF=BB=BF
Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is a systemic = granulomatous=20 disease caused by Paracoccidioides brasiliensis Almeida = (Onygenales) that=20 requires 1=E2=80=932 years of treatment. In the absence of drug therapy, = the disease is=20 usually fatal, highlighting the need for the identification of safer, = novel, and=20 more effective antifungal compounds. With this need in mind, several = plants=20 employed in Brazilian traditional medicine were assayed on P.=20 brasiliensis and murine macrophages. Extracts were prepared from 10 = plant=20 species: Inga spp. Mill. (Leguminosae), Schinus = terebinthifolius=20 Raddi (Anacardiaceae), Punica granatum L. (Punicaceae), = Alternanthera=20 brasiliana Kuntze (Amaranthaceae), Piper regnellii CDC. = (Piperaceae),=20 P. abutiloides Kunth (Piperaceae), Herissantia crispa L. = Briz.=20 (Malvaceae), Rubus urticaefolius Poir (Rosaceae), Rumex = acetosa L.=20 (Polygonaceae), and Baccharis dracunculifolia DC. (Asteraceae). = Hexane=20 fractions from hydroalcoholic extracts of Piper regnellii and=20 Baccharis dracunculifolia were the most active against the = fungus,=20 displaying minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 7.8 = =CE=BCg/mL and 7.8=E2=80=9330=20 =CE=BCg/mL, respectively. Additionally, neither of the extracts = exhibited any=20 apparent cytotoxic effects on murine macrophages at 20 =CE=BCg/mL. = Analyses of these=20 fractions using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) showed that = the=20 major components of B. dracunculifolia were ethyl hydrocinnamate = (14.35%)=20 and spathulenol (16.02%), while the major components of the hexane = fraction of=20 Piper regnellii were 1-methoxy-4-(1-propenyl) benzene (21.94%) = and apiol=20 (21.29%). The activities of these fractions against P. = brasiliensis=20 without evidence of cytotoxicity to macrophages justify their = investigation as a=20 potential source of new chemical agents for the treatment of PCM.
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