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Antiprotozoal, Schistosomicidal, and Antimicrobial Activities of the Essential Oil from the Leaves of Baccharis dracunculifolia
Author(s) -
Parreira Natállia A.,
Magalhães Lizandra G.,
Morais Denis R.,
Caixeta Soraya C.,
de Sousa João P. B.,
Bastos Jairo K.,
Cunha Wilson R.,
Silva Márcio L. A.,
Nanayakkara N. P. D.,
Rodrigues Vanderlei,
da Silva Filho Ademar A.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
chemistry and biodiversity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.427
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1612-1880
pISSN - 1612-1872
DOI - 10.1002/cbdv.200900292
Subject(s) - antiprotozoal , essential oil , antimicrobial , traditional medicine , biology , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , botany , medicine , in vitro , biochemistry
Baccharis dracunculifolia DC. (Asteraceae), popularly known as ‘ alecrim do campo ’, is a native plant from Brazil used in folk medicine as febrifuge, anti‐inflammatory, antiseptic, and to treat skin sores. Also, B. dracunculifolia is the most important plant source of the Brazilian green propolis, which is recognized for its antiseptic and antiprotozoal activities. This study aimed at investigating the in vitro antiprotozoal, schistosomicidal, and antimicrobial activities of the essential oil from the leaves of B. dracunculifolia. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC/MS, which allowed the identification of 14 compounds, mainly oxygenated sesquiterpenes, such as ( E )‐nerolidol (33.51%) and spathulenol (16.24%). The essential oil showed activity against promastigote forms of Leishmania donovani , with IC 50 values of 42 μg/ml. The essential oil displayed high activity in the schistosomicidal assay, since all pairs of Schistosoma mansoni adult worms were dead after incubation with the essential oil (10, 50, and 100 μg/ml). B. dracunculifolia essential oil was neither cytotoxic against Vero cells, nor active in the antimicrobial and antiplasmodial assays.